Under new defensive coordinator Gus Bradley, the Chargers have switched from a 3-4 defense to a 4-3. “That transition,” he says, “it hasn’t been real tough.” (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

As NFL defenses have become hybrid and players more positionless, Chargers defensive coordinator Wade Phillips says it’s not the schemes that are important but the personnel. ‘We’re going to run a 3-4′,’ he says. ‘How we run it, depends on our players. We’re going to try to utilize our talent.’ (Photo by Kevin Sullivan, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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THOUSAND OAKS — Wade Phillips has been in this position before. Four of the past six times he has switched teams, to be exact. And so, when you ask about his concern transitioning from last year’s 4-3 defense to his vaunted 3-4, a topic that seems to whip fans of his new defenses into a state of nervous hysteria, Phillips calmly brushes off the question. The 70-year-old Rams defensive coordinator could not possibly be less concerned.

“I’ve been in this situation,” Phillips says. “We’ve always come up with something.”

A few months later and a few hundred miles south, the same question is posed to Gus Bradley, and he responds with a grin. The Chargers’ new defensive coordinator is taking his defense in the other direction, from a 3-4 to a 4-3, and not only is he unconcerned about such a transition, he’s seems fairly certain the new defense won’t mean much of a change at all.

“That transition,” Bradley says, “it hasn’t been real tough.”

Years ago, such schematic shifts on NFL defenses meant massive roster turnover, in a time when players were more bound to specific schemes. But as much as coaches and fans alike still attach to the schemes we’ve always known — 4-3, 3-4, 5-2 — those rigid two-number-only systems are less accurate now than they’ve ever been.

As NFL offenses have become more fluid, so too have their defensive counterparts. Linebackers move around, floating from the line of scrimmage to deep zones in the middle of the field. Safeties play like linebackers. Nickelbacks play like safeties. Defensive ends shift inside and out. Tweeners, once a dirty word in draft circles, are now “versatile athletes.” And versatility — on defense as much as offense — is all the rage.

“Defenses are forced to be so multiple now,” says Tony Dungy, the former Colts coach who was recently inducted into the Hall of Fame. “Now, you play a team like the Patriots, and you may see five receivers, three receivers and a tight end, and then the next week, it’s two tight ends and two running backs in a power game. All of these offenses that can play in different ways with different personnel forces defenses to be able to defend differently.”

On paper, Phillips and Bradley are taking their defenses in different schematic directions. But as NFL schemes trend more toward positionlessness, base defenses have, more or less, lost their schematic uniqueness, anyway. Nickel defenses are on the field more than half the time. And for two of the NFL’s most innovative defensive coaches, that’s meant creating defensive systems that aren’t bound by the standard schemes they once were.

“I can say there was never a situation where a player was a good player who couldn’t play (on my defense),” Phillips says.

For Robert Quinn, the first day was the hardest.

In his six years with the Rams, Quinn had never rushed the passer without first putting his hand in the dirt. But here he was standing upright, crouched into an outside two-point linebacker’s stance for the first time in his career.

In his 3-4 defense, Phillips seeks to exploit 1-on-1 matchups. He lines up both outside linebackers on or near the line of scrimmage, forcing offenses to account for both, while only one or both — or sometimes neither — rushes. For Quinn, it was awkward at first. But after a few practices, as he settled into the new footwork, he realized his job was essentially the same as it’d been before as a 4-3 defensive end.

“I made it simple for myself,” Quinn says. “They’re really just letting me go out there and play.”

That’s been Phillips’ mantra with his most talented defenders in each stop as a coordinator. It’s no coincidence that, in those six teams’ first season with Phillips, he’s helped them to the playoffs. In 1989, after Phillips was hired, the Broncos went from 20th to 1st in scoring defense. In 2002, the Falcons went from 24th to 8th. In 2004, the Chargers were the 11th-ranked scoring defense, after finishing 31st the year before. And in his next two jobs — Houston (2011) and Denver (2015) — Phillips’ defense jumped from 29th and 16th in scoring defense, respectively, to fourth in his first season after changing to his 3-4 defense.

Players credit the quick transition to the way Phillips teaches his scheme, breaking it down to the most fundamental levels, before teaching the basics over and over. The scheme is secondary to the gap responsibility of each player.

“With some schemes, that’s complicated,” says Mark Barron, who’s shifting to play 3-4 inside linebacker this season. “It might not seem like it makes sense. But everything makes sense right off the bat with his schemes. Anyone who’s played football for awhile, it feels like common sense.”

For the Chargers, the change has come even more naturally. Last year was the only one Joey Bosa ever spent in a 3-4 defense. Switching back to a 4-3 meant kicking out to the defensive end role he had at Ohio State, which, when compared to his role further inside in the 3-4, was second nature.

“It’s going great,” Bosa says. “For me, it’s not too much of a change. My techniques aren’t changing too much. I’m just playing the edge.”

Melvin Ingram, the other half of the Chargers’ young pass-rush duo, will have a slightly different role as a weakside linebacker. But it didn’t take long to convince him on a new position, either. He gave his vote of confidence the first day he reported. By preseason, he was already settled in.

“I’m really just doing the same thing I was doing in any other defense I’ve been in since I’ve been in the league,” Ingram said.

Matt Longacre was less certain how he might fit into Phillips’ 3-4 defense. The Rams reserve lineman is not exactly a prototype of the NFL’s hybrid defense revolution. Whereas Quinn is blessed with long arms and an uncommon athleticism, which fits right into today’s NFL, Longacre admits he’s not as lucky.

“It was a little bit of a struggle, at first,” Longacre says. “That longer length, as you can tell, I don’t have that.”

Coaches discussed moving him inside to 3-4 defensive end. But after a month, as he found his bearings at outside linebacker, everything clicked. The principles of his new and old positions had been the same all along. Phillips decided to keep him in the rotation at outside linebacker.

“It’s been a lot easier adjustment than I thought it would be,” Longacre says.

As the Rams and Chargers settle in for their first season with new defensive coordinators, both Los Angeles defenses have said as much. What was once a minor concern to players unsure how they’d be featured in new schemes is now an afterthought.

With defenses becoming hybrid and players more positionless, it’s not the schemes, Phillips says, that are important. It’s the personnel.

To Phillips, it’s the same as it ever was.

“We’re going to run a 3-4,” he said. “How we run it, depends on our players. We’re going to try to utilize our talent. That’s what we’ve done everywhere we’ve been, and we’ve been pretty successful so far.”