The Eagles released their first depth chart of the year with Nate Allen listed as the strong safety and Kurt Coleman listed as the free safety. But wait you say, those are backwards right? However, at his press conference today, Juan Castillo said that wasn't the case. His message was not so much that they had flipped positions, but more that the position doesn't really matter.
"It's really interchangeable. It really depends on the coverage," Castillo explained. "Which safety are you going to bring down in the box? You can do either-or depending on the team and the formation. If you're going to play a two-shell it doesn't really matter which one lines up where. Sometimes through injury I think they all have to be interchangeable and play both positions and I think we have guys that can do that."
Sometimes I think we can get a bit caught up in the Madden mentality that formations and positions are so static, when in today's NFL that isn't the case. Teams use so much motion and so many three wide sets these days, that the "strong" side and "weak" side can change on any given play. So don't think because you see Nate Allen termed the "strong safety" that he'll be up in the box or Kurt Coleman will be playing centerfield because he's the "free safety" on the depth chart.