Football question - difference between safety and cornerback

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Is that you Doug Mallory??

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Nah.

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what is the difference in the duties between safety and corner?

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There aren't any.

Signed,

Eric Berry

You are correct....

Honestly it really depends on the scheme sometimes, but generally cornerbacks are smaller and more fluid with their hips. THey're able to change direction quickly and fast enough to keep up with guys.

Safeties are usually responsible for deep coverage in a lot of defenses, but some times teams like to man them up one on one with receivers (like LSU) or use them on double teams, as you said. Some can do this but if they can't then bad things happen (think LSU, again)

I always look at it like this..safeties are the last line of defense, whehter for the deep ball or a running play that busts into the secondary. That's their responsibility. To keep everything in front of them and make plays.

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Anyway, what is the difference in the duties between safety and corner?

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Depends on scheme, but mostly corners are focused squarely on coverage, unless they have blitzing duties. CBs are typically very fast, agile, and flexible. You don't see too many CBs under 5'10, but you also don't see too many that are abnormally tall. The strong safety is usually a bigger guy. They aren't really specialized in coverage, rather run support. They have decent speed, but usally aren't burners. The free safety is similar to a CB. A lot of the times, FS are the best athletes out on the field (LaRon Landry, Taylor Mays, Sean Taylor, etc). They are basically the last line of defense in the passing game.

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How big of a deal is it to have a natural corner play out of position at safety, or vice versa?

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It takes a special kind of athlete and football player to pull this off. Eric Berry at Tennessee is a guy who can. Ed Reed is a guy who can.