In order to free up some cap space, the Falcons released starting safety Ricardo Allen last month.
Ans it looks like Allen’s career is not over anytime soon.
The Cincinnati Bengals hosted Allen today per a report from ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
Former Falcons’ safety Ricardo Allen visited today with the Cincinnati Bengals, per source.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 2, 2021
Allen played his collegiate career at Purdue under Bengals defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo, who served as the Boilermakers defensive backs coach from 2004 to 2011.
While Allen hasn’t played cornerback since college, heading to Cincy might be a switch up for him, of course, if that’s where the Bengals plan on playing him.
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Allens’ Impressive Seven Seasons in Atlanta
Through seven seasons in Atlanta, Allen started 76 games racking up 340 tackles, 11 interceptions, and one sack.
Allen, 29, was drafted by the Falcons in 2014 in the fifth round when he spent his rookie year on the practice squad. He was initially drafted as a cornerback but made the switch to free safety where he played the last six seasons. As a four-time captain, Allen was well known for his leadership in the locker room. He played a major role in helping the community and social injustice awareness across the league.
During the 2019 season, the Falcons nominated Allen for the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award, which recognizes an NFL player for their outstanding community service activities on and off the field.
The Falcons letting go of Allen was not an easy decision, but it had to be done. Atlanta is one of a few teams with a cap mess this season. Following Allen’s release, Falcons GM Terry Fontenot made it clear they’re not done making the tough cuts yet.
“Everything is in consideration,” Fontenot said, via Jason Butt of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “We’re going to have to make some hard decisions on this roster.”
Releasing Allen saved Atlanta $6.25 million in salary-cap space.
Allen’s Plan Beyond the NFL
In Week 3 of 2018, Allen suffered a torn Achilles which ended his season. During plenty of downtime, Allen made the most of his downtime and studied various NFL defenses as well as offenses.
“I went back to the old school, back to Bill Walsh and the beginning of the West Coast (offense),” Allen told USA Today. “I went back to (former Falcons offensive coordinator Kyle) Shanahan when he was here and all the stuff he was running in practice.
“Just try to learn as much from the coordinators and the people who actually like invented the offense and the people with the most knowledge. I was just studying it over and over, like if I was a quarterback or I was a wide receiver or a running back trying to learn the offense. I was just trying to learn it from the foundation of it. I got bored, so I did something.”
Allen added that after studying the other side of the ball more, he wants to be an offensive coordinator once his NFL career comes to an end.
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