TEMPE, Ariz. -- During one of the first conversations Arizona Cardinals safety Isaiah Simmons had with his new coaching staff, he was asked where he envisions himself on the field.

He was honest: He didn’t want to play linebacker anymore.

After three years and more than 1,300 snaps at inside and outside linebacker, Simmons wanted to play a position he was both comfortable at and familiar with. That led to the former first-round pick (No. 8 overall in 2020) moving to safety full time during training camp, the position he dabbled in last season but has experience with from his high school days.

“Everybody knows Clemson offered me as a safety, so it’s not like safety is like a foreign language to me,” Simmons said. “It’s just really going back to what I started off doing and I like it because in our defense, I feel like we’re very multiple, so it’s not like it’s just limiting me to just being a post player all the time or a half.

“So, I enjoy it.”

New Cardinals coach Jonathan Gannon had that conversation with Simmons because, ultimately, he wanted the athletic phenom to maximize his ability. Gannon went into their chat wanting to balance a potential position change within the broader scheme of what Arizona planned on doing defensively. They apparently found that harmony.

Simmons, who played 422 snaps last season at defensive back, had one request for his new coaches before making the switch: He wanted to master one position first.

“I’ve always felt like if a guy’s unsure or not comfortable where he’s playing, he’s not going to hit his ceiling,” Gannon said.

Simmons got right to work, spending OTAs and minicamp working with the defensive backs. But Simmons, who did not have his fifth-year option picked up this offseason, said he learned the safety position, in earnest, during training camp.

After learning multiple positions in his first three seasons with the Cardinals -- like he did at Clemson, which was partly the reason he was such a coveted prospect in the 2020 draft --Simmons got what he wanted and was able to focus on just one this offseason. He picked up defensive coordinator Nick Rallis’ playbook relatively quickly, the safety said, a trait he developed in college when former Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables would install new plays and then make the players run them on the same day -- all while Venables was playing scout-team quarterback and screaming at his players.

Rallis installs in a much different way than Venables. Plays are installed one day, and then players get time to learn them before running them in walk-through and practice the next day.

It also helps that Rallis’ playbook is smaller than the ones Simmons learned under former Cardinals defensive coordinator Vance Joseph, Simmons said. So far, he has learned free safety, strong safety and nickel, while also brushing up on what the cornerbacks do so he’s more prepared to play behind them.

“I think that’s just, like, allowed me to really hone in on details a lot faster, opposed to learning such a big bulk,” Simmons said.

Thus far, the move seems to be working.

“He's been reliable back there, which is the first trait of a safety to me, being in the right spot where you're supposed to be all the time,” Gannon said. “The definition of a safety, reliability for me. But he shows some range and some hitting ability, a little bit of coverage ability, a little bit of downhill striking ability.

“Long way to go, but I like where he is at.”

Simmons’ size has a lot to do with his coverage ability.

At 6-foot-4 and 238 pounds, Simmons, who also runs a 4.39-second 40-yard dash, is a unicorn. Last season, there were just four players, including Simmons, who were 6-4 or taller who played double-digit snaps at safety, according to ESPN Stats & Information.

Simmons reminded cornerback Marco Wilson of a “bigger Sean Taylor.”

The combination of Simmons’ size, length and speed brought smiles to some of his teammates' faces when they thought about how that combination could translate to safety.

“It does a lot,” cornerback Christian Matthew said. “He could cover a lot of ground, obviously. He’s obviously long and freakishly athletic, so it gives you a little bit more leeway.”

Simmons wants to take advantage of his range this season, hoping he can increase his interceptions from the two he had in 2022. He also feels like he can take away most of the field in his new role and told the cornerbacks to play more aggressive “because I got you.”

Wilson feels like he can take more risks with Simmons behind him.

“If you mess up, they’ll clean it up for you,” Wilson said.

Part of the learning curve for Simmons has been figuring out how to play alongside fellow safeties Budda Baker and Jalen Thompson.

One area that’ll be different for Simmons is the on-field communication. Simmons, who has worn the green dot, meaning he had a speaker in his helmet to receive the play from the sideline and then relay it to the rest of the defense, knows how to relay plays to his teammates. But now, as a safety, he’ll be among the ones making the checks once everyone is lined up instead of taking the orders as a linebacker.

“The communication’s slightly different,” Baker said. “With me being at safety, with him being at safety, we’re able to, of course, communicate a little better.

“I always talk about us having great eyes when we’re pre-snap and just understanding not to bust coverages, just understanding what each other has is definitely going to be good for us.”

After a career of positionless football, Simmons feels free playing in one place.

“I feel comfortable, very comfortable, back there,” Simmons said. “I feel like I picked everything up fairly quickly and have, like, a good grasp on basically every position in the secondary so far.”