Ryan Allen agrees to new one-year deal with Patriots

The New England Patriots and free agent punter Ryan Allen have reportedly agreed on a new one-year deal that will keep Allen in Foxborough.

It might not be the flashiest of signings, but as anyone who watched Super Bowl 53 can attest, sometimes you don’t need to be flashy to win a championship in the NFL.

Next to maybe Julian Edelman, Bill Belichick, and Brian Flores, punter Ryan Allen was arguably the most important person on the field in Atlanta on February 3. In a game that featured 14 punts and the lowest amount of scoring in Super Bowl history, Allen’s performance in keeping the Rams offense pinned back deep for most of 60 minutes stands out as instrumental when evaluating how New England won its sixth Lombardi Trophy. On three separate occasions, Allen landed a punt within the Los Angeles Rams’ own 10-yard line.

Although the Patriots have never given a second contract to a punter in the Bill Belichick era, Allen’s consistency and overall excellence played a major factor in his re-signing with the team on a one-year deal.

"“Business is business. There’s a lot of turnover each year. There’s a lot that goes into it,” Allen told The Boston Herald back in February, right after helping his team to a championship. “I’m just grateful to have been able to play six of my years, especially my younger years, in such a first class organization to learn how to be a mature professional, how to train like one…do your job, that goes in all facets of life. I truly believe that.”"

Allen is still just 29 years old despite having played in the NFL for six seasons now, all of which were spent with the Patriots. A left-footed punter out of Louisiana Tech, Allen has maintained a firm stranglehold on the position ever since he was drafted back in 2013.

He currently holds a gross yards per punt average of 45.3 and a net yards per punt average of 40.3. He also hasn’t had a punt blocked since 2015.

The move further stabilizes a New England special teams unit that drastically improved down the stretch in 2018 and should be even better this next season, provided the team finds a way to lock up placekicker Stephen Gostkowski now.