Just my gut.Your post makes sense. And we were down at halftime against Cincinnati, so the roughly 1/3 of the defensive snaps he played weren't due to garbage time.
I do think it was Flo's obsession w having versatility w nearly every defensive player, especially DB's, that made me think this.
We still obviously didn't solely view him as a boundary to start the year. He played 21 slot snaps in his first two games and 9 for the rest of the season. 7 of those came in weeks 3 and 4, which were easily the games he played the most w Jones out.
So I guess the way they used him does check out with how they said they'd use him after Byron returned.
Seeing him in the slot early on, they might have just gone "whoa, let's take it really slow with the kid and keep it boundary only."
(Plus I really don't see Flo giving an eff about making excuses, keeping someone on the bench, saying a player isn't learning a certain spot when he is, etc.)