Arizona Cardinals’ Deone Bucannon on DC Todd Bowles: ‘He continues to put us in positions to succeed’

Arizona Cardinals rookie Deone Bucannon is listed as a safety, but he says he has yet to play a down at that position in a regular season NFL game.

The 2014 first-rounder joined the Burns & Gambo show Monday on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM and talked about how he has lined up at linebacker and just about anywhere else on the field — except safety — under defensive coordinator Todd Bowles.

“Honestly, that’s just all Coach Bowles,” Bucannon said. “He’s one of the best defensive minds that I’ve been around. And he knows the strength of each one of his players, and he continues to put us in positions to succeed. And you know it speaks volumes on what he knows about the game.”

The 22-year-old defender talked about being flexible with his placement on the field and how thankful he is that he gets to see the field so much as a rookie.

“It’s all good. It’s OK with me, as long as I’m on the field,” he said. “And I know Coach Bowles and the Cardinals (have) got a plan for me. For whenever they need me, wherever they need me, however they need me, I’m more than ready to do it. And like I said, it’s a blessing to be out there.”

Bucannon is coming off perhaps his best game as a pro, in which he rang up eight tackles (including four solo) and the first takeaway of his career (a second-quarter fumble recovery) in Arizona’s 24-20 home win over the Philadelphia Eagles. The rookie defensive back also tipped away a Nick Foles pass on the second-to-last play of the game that helped the Cardinals preserve their sixth win of the season.

Bowles ran some aggressive defensive plays on the Eagles’ final drive of the game, including blitzing as many as seven players at a time. Bucannon said the team can trust the calls coming from its defensive coordinator, no matter how radical they may seem.

“You know, it’s just Coach Bowles,” he said. “We have so much faith in Coach Bowles and how he calls the game. And he understands; he understands the game a lot more than we do. And we’re out there trying to execute each and every play he calls to the best of our abilities. And like I said, we have a plan, we have faith in the plan and we execute the plan.”

Bowles was on the Bickley & Marotta show earlier in the day on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM and had kind words to say, as well, about Bucannon, while also noting that the rookie isn’t a finished product.