In March 2022, New England Patriots defensive back Jonathan Jones took to social media to share a message with the world.

“‘Positionless’ football is the future,” he wrote on his Twitter account. What prompted that statement is not known, but it very well might have been an early preview of things to come. Jones’ team, after all, is very much moving in that direction right now.

The Patriots have always placed a premium on versatility, regardless of position. The more a player could do, the better his chances are of earning one of the precious few spots on an active roster; with only 53 of them available, being able to wear multiple hats and still perform at a competent level could give players a leg up on more one-dimensional teammates.

Versatility, of course, can take various forms.

There are players such as Marcus Jones, for example. Jones was a three-way contributor for the Patriots in 2022 and played cornerback, wide receiver and — at an All-Pro level — punt returner. He was therefore following in the footsteps of Troy Brown, Julian Edelman and Matthew Slater, who all saw action on offense, defense and special teams through the years.

Then, there is what New England appears to be doing right now: get as many positionally flexible players as possible, and put them on the field at the same time. This is the Positionless Football Jonathan Jones is talking about, and for the 2023 Patriots it seems to be turning into a reality, at least in the defensive backfield.

The team, after all, features several Swiss Army Knife-type players in the secondary. At safety, Kyle Dugger, Jabrill Peppers and Adrian Phillips have all filled multiple roles in the past; the same is true for safety/cornerback hybrids such as Jonathan Jones, Jalen Mills and Myles Bryant. Add the aforementioned Marcus Jones as well as third-round rookie Marte Mapu, who blurs the line between linebacker and safety, and you get several players capable of filling virtually every role on the second and third level of the defense.

“We can all play in the deep part of the field. We can cover man to man, whether it’s a tight end, a running back, so we have to replace on a blitz from the corners. And we’re really comfortable in the box, know how to read the triangles, things like that,” said Jabrill Peppers earlier this week.

“Then you add in a guy like Marte, who you don’t know if he’s at ‘backer or safety now and we’re talking pre-snap, it might look one way to the offense; we run the same play but we just flip two guys and now it looks like a completely different defense. That just kind of keeps spinning the dial. We have a lot of continuity going on. We only lost one player — a great player — but we know each other really well. So, we’re just trying to build off of that and take the next steps where we can.”

The Patriots’ defensive personnel experienced only a few changes compared to 2023. Marte Mapu was added in the draft, alongside first-round cornerback Christian Gonzalez and second-round lineman Keion White. All three rookies project to play prominent and, in the case of both Mapu and White, versatile roles this season.

Obviously, though, no discussion about the New England defense can be had without also mentioning the biggest loss it suffered: Devin McCourty announced his retirement earlier this offseason. With the long-time team captain no longer patrolling the deep parts of the field from his safety position, the entire unit needs to adjust.

As Jabrill Peppers pointed out, however, that also brings opportunity.

“We lost great leadership and communication in Devin, but it’s on all of us to pick it up,” Peppers said. “He led by example; he still comes around, we still bounce things off of him. Even though he’s not on the team any more, he’s still here.

“I think, personally, you kind of knew where Devin was going to be most of the time. He inserted, he rotated down, but for the most part you knew — 80 to 90 percent of the time — he was going to be in the post. Now, you don’t know where anybody’s going to be.”

What exactly the Patriots’ secondary will look like in Year 1 after Devin McCourty remains to be seen, but the team does have some intriguing talent to help replace the veteran’s contributions. And as Peppers pointed out, it will not take one individual player to take over but rather a team effort.

That, in turn, plays into the unit’s strength again: having several players who are position flexible and also have experience playing alongside one another.

“We’ve all been here. This is my second year with the guys, but they’ve been together even longer than that,” said Peppers. “We’re just building off last year. We just brushed off the cobwebs a little bit, just to get guys back into the swing of things. But for the most part, we’re trying to build.

“OTAs, some guys will be starting to learn the defense, what the coaches are asking from you, the expectations, the standard, but we already know that. So, now we’re just trying to look for ways that we can get ahead. How can we disguise? Awareness. Things that we didn’t necessarily put our best foot forward last year, trying to take that next step.”

Even with McCourty gone, the Patriots have the tools in place to indeed take that step in 2023. Embracing versatility will be a key part in that.

It is therefore just as Jonathan Jones predicted last year: positionless football is indeed the future, at least in the New England secondary.