If you want to look beyond statistics to evaluate the Washington Redskins’ retooled (again) defense, focus your eyes on Su’a Cravens. He is a worthy subject to test the competence of the new coaching staff.

Cravens is the kind of player who should thrive in today’s NFL, a hybrid of safety and linebacker, an evolved defender capable of competing in an evolved, pass-centric game that emphasizes versatility and playing in space. But there’s a catch: Before you can take advantage of having a player such as Cravens, you must decipher him. There is no long-established model for how to use his diverse skills; you have to bend your system to maximize his strengths.

Washington tried and erred a year ago, when Cravens was a rookie. The 2016 second-round draft pick played inside linebacker despite being skinny for the position at about 220 pounds. While his talent flashed often, Cravens missed five games because of a concussion and an upper arm injury. He lost some confidence. He became angry about a Sports Illustrated MMQB report that claimed he skipped a day of treatment late in the season. He left for the offseason needing to heal physically and mentally. He also needed his team to put him in a better position to succeed.

Like, you know, safety.

Former defensive coordinator Joe Barry is gone. His replacement, Greg Manusky, has moved Cravens to his natural position, following through with the franchise’s long-term plan. Cravens is back to dreaming about the possibilities. But he also values lessons learned during a difficult transition to pro football.

[Cousins says he’s ‘in a good place’ playing on a one-year deal]

“I’m just a more mature player,” he said. “I think last year I didn’t see the big picture. I was more worried about me as an individual making plays. But being in the situation I was in and really going through that season last year, I think it prepared me to be a true veteran and a leader on the team.”

Even though he prefers playing safety, even though he was a five-star high school safety and a standout college safety at Southern Cal, Cravens will never really be a safety. He definitely won’t be a middle linebacker. He plays a position that has yet to be invented. He can blitz. He can play in the box and be a physical presence tackling running backs. He can run, cover receiving threats and make plays in open space. He can drop in a zone and defend large chunks of the field. He’s not extraordinary at all of those things, but he’s functional across the board, and he possesses a playmaking knack that supersedes any of his perceived limitations. He’s a perfect fit to counter offenses that intend to spread out the opponent and exploit positional dinosaurs. But you have to transcend convention to make the most of his skill.

That’s the challenge for Manusky and new defensive backs coach Torrian Gray. Cravens, who is just 22, has plenty of learning left, and he must adjust to the defensive system. But the coaches have to tailor some of their schemes and philosophies to amplify what Cravens can do.

Cravens should develop into a solid starter regardless of the defense. But if Washington can figure him out, it could develop one of the great hybrid players in the NFL. When a coaching staff gets to that level of deep thinking and creativity, then it is something special. Then it can truly do what most teams can’t: Pick the best players and not just make it work but create a complex, mirrored system.

Look at some of the defenses that have thrived recently — Arizona, Denver, Houston, New England and Seattle among them — and you see them prospering with versatility.

“I don’t ever think being versatile will be a negative,” Cravens said. “If you can play in the box, if you can play in the post and go out and play man, why not utilize all those skills? I think that opens up the playbook to our defense.”

Cravens isn’t the most important young player to the future of Washington’s defense; rookie lineman Jonathan Allen is. But Cravens stands a lot closer to that top spot than many perceive. Turn him into a star, turn him into his own version of Arizona’s Deone Bucannon, and Washington would have an undefined and unpredictable defender whom offenses would have to account for, which would take some of the reactionary burden out of playing defense. It would be subtle to the eye, but it would be significant.

[Gruden is feeling more at ease in his role, and it shows]

Coach Jay Gruden doesn’t view Cravens’s rookie season as a failure. It was just part of a process that was destined to take a while. The coaches want him to have a panoramic view of the defense, and Cravens says he has “a better understanding of schemes” because he played inside linebacker.

“In the long run, it benefited me,” Cravens said.

By playing safety, Cravens isn’t exactly going home. He’s adding to his knowledge of NFL defense. He figures to be more comfortable, but Washington isn’t forcing him to be a traditional safety, just as it didn’t force him to be a traditional inside linebacker. Gruden recognizes that Cravens is a puzzle that needs to be pieced together.

“Su’a came in as an oddball, outside linebacker-ish type guy,” Gruden said. “He wasn’t really a safety, wasn’t really an outside linebacker. So we brought him in here, and we thought we’d put him in as a dime linebacker on third down — cover tight ends, cover running backs and blitz and learn the game from the inside-out. . . . We’re trying to put him at safety and give him some different packages where it’s very similar to what he played at USC and let him do a lot of different things.

“It’s all going to come down to how much he can handle mentally. Su’a is a bright guy. He can handle a lot. So it’s, ‘What can you do with him consistently?’ The best thing about him is you can move him around and do different things with him. That’s what we’ve got to figure out.”

Improving the defense is one thing, and that needs to be a given for Washington. Of greater intrigue is whether Manusky and his staff have the ingenuity to mold unorthodox talent. They can’t waste Cravens, not if they want to build a competitive defense in this era.

For more by Jerry Brewer, visit washingtonpost.com/brewer.