Ryan Allen (American football)

Ryan Allen (born February 28, 1990) is an American football punter who is currently a free agent. He played college football for the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs. Allen won the 2011 and 2012 Ray Guy Awards and was a consensus All-American in 2012. He was signed by the New England Patriots as an undrafted free agent in 2013.

Ryan Allen
Allen with the Patriots in 2017
Free agent
Position:Punter
Personal information
Born: (1990-02-28) February 28, 1990
Salem, Oregon
Height:6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Weight:215 lb (98 kg)
Career information
High school:West Salem (Salem, Oregon)
College:Louisiana Tech
Undrafted:2013
Career history
Career highlights and awards
Career NFL statistics as of 2019
Punts:437
Average punt:45.1
Punt yards:19,698
Longest punt:67
Inside 20:167
Player stats at NFL.com

High school career

Allen attended West Salem High School in Salem, Oregon, where he played on the football team for two years as a punter/kicker.[1] In 2007, he was named to the all-state first team.[2]

College career

In 2008, Allen walked on at Oregon State along with fellow punter Johnny Hekker. As a freshman, he was redshirted. He did not play in 2009 as he remained behind Hekker on the team's depth chart.[3] He then went to Louisiana Tech, and in 2010, he played in 12 games, averaging 40.8 yards on 60 punts. He had 21 punts go inside the 20-yard line. Four of his punts went over 50 yards, including a season-long punt of 66 yards.[2]

In 2011, Allen punted 83 times and set a school record with a 46.3 yard average per punt.[4] He ranked first in the nation with 39 punts inside the 20 yard line, and he had a season-long punt of 72 yards against Mississippi State. In the Poinsettia Bowl, he averaged 43.2 yards on five punts. Allen was named to the All-WAC first team and won the Ray Guy Award as the best college football punter.[2][5]

Allen averaged 48.0 yards on 45 punts as a senior in 2012.[6] He had 21 punts that were longer than 50 yards and 20 punts that were downed inside the 20 yard line.[5] Allen had a career-long 85-yard punt against New Mexico State.[7] He led the NCAA in punting yards per punt, was a unanimous All-American, and won the Ray Guy Award for the second time, the first punter to ever win back-to-back Ray Guy Awards.[8]

Professional career

New England Patriots

Two punters—Jeff Locke and Sam Martin—were selected in the 2013 NFL Draft; Allen was not.[9] He signed a standard three-year contract as an undrafted free agent with the New England Patriots on April 27, 2013. During training camp, Allen beat out veteran Zoltán Meskó, who was released at the final roster cutdown.[10]

Allen was named the Week 14 AFC Special Teams Player of the Week for his contributions to the Patriots win over San Diego Chargers.[11] In Super Bowl XLIX, he punted four times for 196 yards and set a then Super Bowl record with a 64-yard punt, helping the Patriots to a 28-24 victory over the Seattle Seahawks.[12] On July 25, 2015, the Patriots signed Allen to a three-year contract extension; the NFL's Collective Bargaining Agreement allows undrafted rookies to sign extensions after two seasons.[13] The new deal, which ran through the 2018 season, had $6.1 million in new money, including a $2 million signing bonus and $1 million in guaranteed salary in 2016.[14]

In 2016, Allen was praised for his performance in the Patriots' Week 3 win, 27–0, over the Houston Texans. He punted seven times, averaging over 49 yards per punt; none of his punts were returned, and all of them left the Texans starting at or behind their own 20-yard line.[15][16] His performance earned him AFC Special Teams Player of the Week honors.[17] On February 5, 2017, Allen was part of the Patriots team that won Super Bowl LI. In the game, Allen punted four times for 166 yards as the Patriots defeated the Atlanta Falcons by a score of 34–28 in overtime.[18] Allen made his third Super Bowl appearance the next season for the Patriots in Super Bowl LII; however, the Patriots lost to the Philadelphia Eagles 41–33, and Allen never punted during the game.[19] The next year, his former college teammate Johnny Hekker broke his Super Bowl record for the Los Angeles Rams, though the Patriots would win that game and give Allen his third Super Bowl championship.[20]

On March 22, 2019, Allen re-signed with the Patriots on a one-year deal.[21] However, on August 19, 2019, he was released in favor of rookie Jake Bailey who was drafted by the Patriots in the fifth round of the 2019 NFL Draft.[22]

Atlanta Falcons

On November 4, 2019, Allen signed with the Atlanta Falcons, making him the team's fifth Punter of the season.[23] He was released on November 29, 2019 when Matt Bosher was activated off injured reserve.[24] He was re-signed again on December 7, 2019 following an injury to Bosher.[25] Despite playing only half a season in 2019, and having a career low in yards per punt, Allen had arguably his most accurate season in the NFL, pinning exactly half of his punts (14 out of 28) inside the 20.[26]

On February 18, 2020, Allen signed a one-year contract extension with the Falcons.[27] On August 2, 2020, Allen was released by the Falcons.[28]

NFL statistics
YearTeamGamesPuntsYardsLongBlocksY/P
2013NE 16663,49165045.9
2014NE 16663,06067146.4
2015NE 16733,35867146.0
2016NE 16723,21757044.7
2017NE 16582,51560043.4
2018NE 16642,88566045.1
2019 ATL 8 28 1,172 59 0 41.9
Career10443719,69867245.1

Personal life

Allen was born in Salem, Oregon, on February 28, 1990. His parents are Mike and Sherry Allen, and he has one sister, Jessica. He was a business major at Louisiana Tech.[2]

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References
  1. Poehler, Bill. "Ryan Allen bursts into spotlight for Patriots". Statesman Journal. Retrieved January 7, 2018.
  2. "Ryan Allen Profile". latechsports.com. Retrieved February 10, 2013.
  3. Gulizia, Anthony (October 6, 2014). "Punting of Ryan Allen one of the few Patriots bright spots vs. Chiefs". Boston Globe. Retrieved October 25, 2016.
  4. "Ryan Allen 2011 Game Log". College Football at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved January 7, 2018.
  5. Gay, Chris. "Louisiana Tech punter Ryan Allen wins Ray Guy Award". chronicle.augusta.com. December 6, 2012. Retrieved February 10, 2013.
  6. "Ryan Allen Stats". sports-reference.com. Retrieved February 10, 2013.
  7. "Ryan Allen". espn.go.com. Retrieved February 10, 2013.
  8. "Former Bulldogs Primed for the NFL Draft".
  9. "2013 NFL Draft Listing". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved January 7, 2018.
  10. "Patriots Cuts: Francis Among Latest Cuts As Pats Trim Roster".
  11. "Ryan Allen". New England Patriots.
  12. http://www.conferenceusa.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/020215aab.html
  13. "Report: Patriots Sign Punter Ryan Allen To Three-Year Contract Extension". July 25, 2015.
  14. "Breaking down contract for New England Patriots punter Ryan Allen - New England Patriots Blog - ESPN". Retrieved August 8, 2015.
  15. "Houston Texans at New England Patriots - September 22nd, 2016". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved January 7, 2018.
  16. Reid, Levan. "Gold Stars, Penalty Flags In Patriots Win Over Texans". Retrieved September 25, 2016.
  17. "It Is What It Is » Ryan Allen named AFC Special Teams Player of the Week". itiswhatitis.weei.com. Retrieved September 28, 2016.
  18. "Super Bowl LI - New England Patriots vs. Atlanta Falcons - February 5th, 2017". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved September 2, 2017.
  19. Davis, Nate (February 5, 2018). "52 things we learned from Eagles-Patriots Super Bowl LII". USA Today. USA Today. Retrieved February 13, 2018. Who had the best seat in the house for Super Bowl LII? We'd say Pats P Ryan Allen ... who never had to punt. Philly's Donnie Jones was a workhorse by comparison (1 punt).
  20. https://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2019/2/3/18209722/super-bowl-2019-punting-record-johnny-hekker-ryan-allen
  21. "Patriots re-sign punter Ryan Allen". Patriots.com. March 22, 2019.
  22. Buchmasser, Bernd. "The Patriots' punter competition is over: Ryan Allen has been released". PatsPulpit.com. Retrieved August 19, 2019.
  23. McFadden, Will (November 4, 2019). "Falcons agree to terms with punter Ryan Allen". AtlantaFalcons.com.
  24. McFadden, Will (November 29, 2019). "Falcons release Jermaine Grace, Ryan Allen". AtlantaFalcons.com.
  25. McFadden, Will (December 7, 2019). "Falcons place Matt Bosher on IR, sign punter Ryan Allen". AtlantaFalcons.com.
  26. http://www.nfl.com/player/ryanallen/2539640/careerstats
  27. McFadden, Will (February 18, 2020). "Atlanta Falcons sign Younghoe Koo, Ryan Allen to one-year extensions". AtlantaFalcons.com.
  28. McFadden, Will (August 2, 2020). "Falcons place Foye Oluokun on reserve/COVID-19 list, release Ryan Allen, waive four others". AtlantaFalcons.com.
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