FOXBORO -- When it comes to versatility, the phrase around Gillette Stadium is, “The more you can do, the more you can do for us.” To that end, while the Patriots have spent the first two days of the 2012 draft aggressively going after defense, they’ve also placed a premium on the acquisition of versatile players.

New England has always managed to wring the most out of a player, and early indications are that the draft class of 2012 is in the same mold -- all four players the Patriots have taken in the first three rounds (all of whom are defensive players) all showed positional flexibility as collegians.

“Every player has his own individual package, whatever it is,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said after the first round on Thursday night. “Some guys do one thing very well, other guys have some versatility, other guys can do a lot of different things. Whatever their deal is, it is. And that’s what they come with.”

Both first-round picks of the Patriots said Friday they are comfortable being moved around the field. Defensive end Chandler Jones said that as a collegian at Syracuse, “there were different schemes where I played with my hand down and hand up. I feel like personally I probably could play both.”

And fellow first-rounder Dont’a Hightower, who made his bones as an inside linebacker at Alabama, was moved around the field like a chess piece throughout his collegiate career. Hightower said he anticipates having to do the same as a rookie with the Patriots.

“I feel like that’s what’s going to have me on the field a lot this year,” Hightower said. “Me being able to play all the different positions [and] me knowing all the different positions at Alabama is really what helped me excel my game and get on the field a lot more at such a young age.

“But that’s something I’m definitely going to use here, my versatility -- whether it’s getting after the quarterback, getting on the running back or dropping in coverage, just trying to throw the quarterback off. Hopefully I’ll be able to come into a role a lot like I did at Alabama.”

“He played middle linebacker really, or inside linebacker off the line for Alabama in their base defense and their nickel,” Belichick said of Hightower. “But he also played defensive end in their nickel opposite [Courtney] Upshaw and they were the two defensive ends in their nickel package. He rarely came off the field defensively.”

And nine years after they took another versatile defensive back out of Illinois named Wilson (Eugene), New England went after the same sort of player Friday night, acquiring defensive back Tavon Wilson with the 48th overall selection.

Eugene Wilson was a corner who ended up moving to safety, and this Wilson has the same sort of flexibility: The 6-foot, 205-pounder moved into the starting lineup in 2009 as a corner, and recorded 74 tackles and a sack, with 3.5 tackles for loss in 12 games (11 starts). After a run of injuries in 2010, he moved to strong safety and had 48 tackles, a team-high eight pass breakups and an interception in 13 starts.

And last season, he moved back to cornerback, where he registered 81 solo tackles, with 6 1/2 tackles for loss, one sack and one forced fumble in 13 starts (12 of them at corner) and one when he played strong safety.

“My junior year I started at safety. I came in as a corner, but my junior year, someone was hurt, so I had to move to safety,” he said. “Last year, my coaches asked me what position I wanted to play for my senior season and I told them I wanted to play corner. I kind of played everywhere. I played some safety some games, some corner, some nickel.

“I just thought that was where I was most needed on my football team,” he explained. “We had a safety coming back off of injury and I felt like he was a pretty good player. We had some young guys that could play safety, but we didn’t have the other corner, so I said I’d play corner because I thought that was the best fit for the team.”

Wilson said he can bounce back and forth between the two, but acknowledges that it won’t be his call when he gets to the next level.

“I feel like I can do both things at a very high level but it’s not really up to me what position I play,” Wilson said Friday when asked about playing both. “It’s up to coach Belichick and the staff. I’m just going to do everything I can to the best of my abilities to do everything I can to contribute to the team.”

Third-round pick Jake Bequette also has some positional versatility -- the 6-foot-5, 274-pounder played all over the defensive line at Arkansas, but was used as a defensive end in a 3-4 scheme at the Senior Bowl. He said Friday night he’s “comfortable” as a 4-3 end or a 3-4 outside linebacker.

“I guess that’s kind of a soft answer, but it’s true -- I played the 4-3 end mostly in college, but I also stood up a little bit doing the outside linebacker position in the Senior Bowl and Combine,” he said. “The more I did it, the more it grew on me, so I feel very comfortable in both.”

Like his new teammates, Bequette knows the flexibility he learned as a collegian will serve him well in the NFL, especially when it comes to surviving in New England.

“Every Sunday, I would turn on NFL games and it seems like half the teams in the league now at least are running a 3-4 kind of hybrid defense or a 4-3,” Bequette said. “I know New England is very flexible, and you watch certain players, [it has] certain outside linebackers who play standing up and in the three-point stance on passing downs. I’m very excited, and if that’s what the coaches want me to do, then I can’t wait to do it.”