Eagles Notes: Allen will start at strong safety for Eagles

Nate Allen will be the Eagles' starting strong safety, coach Chip Kelly said Wednesday. Allen's spot was the last one in question entering Monday's season opener against the Washington Redskins.

The move did not come as a surprise, since Allen started each preseason game and was expected to win the job. Allen, a second-round pick in 2010, has not developed into the player the team expected. This season could be his final chance to prove himself to the Eagles.

He beat rookie Earl Wolff, a fifth-round pick, for the top spot. Kelly said Allen is a "little bit ahead" of Wolff. Kelly said he reached the decision based on "film evaluation, games played, production so far through the preseason, camp and [organized team activities]."

Kelly added that Wolff will still play on defense. It's unclear how that will happen - whether there are special packages that feature Wolff or he will rotate with Allen. But Wolff is confident that he'll receive playing time against the Redskins.

"I honestly feel like me and Nate will get almost, I would say, an equal opportunity on the field Monday night," Wolff said. "I don't know exactly how much I will play. But I'm going to be ready to take advantage [of] every opportunity."

Every decision that was made regarding a backup spot on the 53-man roster came down to special teams, Kelly said. The coach addressed the roster for the first time since it was trimmed.

"Any backup spot is all [based on] the value of special teams," Kelly said. "If you're going to be a backup player here, you're going to be on [special] teams."

That was the reason the Eagles kept only three outside linebackers. They cut Chris McCoy and kept five inside linebackers. McCoy is best at pass rushing. Connor Barwin is the only outside linebacker who can consistently drop into coverage, so Kelly wanted different skill sets and special-teams contributions.

"Right now, at our outside linebacker spots, we have a lot of rush guys, not a lot of drop guys," Kelly said. "To keep a third rush guy, we kept Vinny [Curry], kind of look at Vinny [as someone who] could play in that spot for us. To keep another rush guy who's not contributing on teams just wasn't going to help us. Especially when we go to 46" players on game days.

Casey Matthews will "cross-train" to play outside linebacker, too, Kelly said.

Matthews and wide receiver Jeff Maehl are end-of-the-roster players who played for Kelly at Oregon. Kelly joked that the only advantage of the Oregon connection is if the Eagles were to sing the Ducks' fight song.

He also said no consideration was paid to what the players did at Oregon, and where the familiarity helps is that Kelly knows what they can do on special teams.

"It's about special teams," Kelly said. "There's three ways to make this football team: special teams, special teams, special teams."

Kelly said that's the reason the Eagles claimed linebacker Najee Goode off waivers Monday.

The only players who did not practice Wednesday were cornerback Brandon Hughes (hand) and tackle Dennis Kelly (back). Kelly is out for Monday's game. . . . The Eagles signed defensive end Brandon Bair to the practice squad. Bair, 6-foot-7 and 272 pounds, played for Kelly at Oregon. The 28-year-old went undrafted in 2011 and spent time with the Oakland Raiders and Kansas City Chiefs. Bair is the fifth Oregon player on the Eagles roster or practice squad.