FOXBORO, Mass. — The New England Patriots’ decision Monday to cut longtime punter Ryan Allen wasn’t a surprising move, but it still came as a disappointment to those he worked closely with for the last six seasons.
“As a gunner, obviously you’re only as good as your punter, and the last six years with Ryan were fantastic,” special teams captain Matthew Slater said before Tuesday’s practice. “He was a guy who always was able to put a smile on my face regardless of the situation. I’m very thankful for the time that I had with him. I learned a lot from him.”
“Ryan and I have built a friendship over the last few years, and obviously, we’re really close,” long snapper Joe Cardona added. “But you understand the ways of the industry. Turnover is natural, and unfortunately, it gets personal when it’s a close friend. But it’s a testament to Jake (Bailey).”
Bailey, whom the Patriots traded up to select in the fifth round of the 2019 NFL Draft, beat out Allen in training camp, leading to the veteran’s release ahead of the team’s third preseason game. While Slater and Cardona both lauded Bailey’s ability, they lamented that his arrival had to come at the expense of their good friend.
“It’s very difficult,” Slater said. “Certainly, when you have a relationship with a guy and you spend a lot of time around him and you’ve gone through life with him, it doesn’t make it easy. I don’t care how long you play this game; a part of a game that you never get used to is seeing friends come and go. And obviously, it’s difficult. You can easily say, ‘Well, that’s the business,’ but you can’t forget about the human side of this business.”
The Patriots won three Super Bowls and played in another during Allen’s tenure, which began when he unseated incumbent Zoltan Mesko as an undrafted rookie in 2013. His performance in Super Bowl LIII (three punts downed inside the 10-yard line) played a pivotal role in holding the Los Angeles Rams’ vaunted offense to a single field goal in a 13-3 Patriots victory.
The battery of Allen, Cardona and kicker Stephen Gostkowski had been intact since the start of the 2015 season.
“Everybody would like to point to the Super Bowl, which obviously was a fine performance by him,” Slater said. “But he was really great for us over the course of his entire career. I think what I’ll remember most about Ryan is his sense of humor and the way that he made everyone around here laugh and not take things too seriously. I definitely appreciate him for that.”
Allen re-signed with the Patriots on a one-year, $1.5 million contract after Super Bowl LIII, but he faced a stacked deck following the addition of Bailey, who was younger, cheaper, under team control for four years and possessed the ability to kick off, which he did throughout his collegiate career at Stanford.
Bailey’s talents were evident from his first spring practice. The ball shoots off his foot as if propelled by a miniature motor, resulting in consistently impressive hangtime and distance that Allen simply was unable to match.
“Jake, he’s a young kid that came in, and he was ready to learn, ready to receive coaching and obviously immensely talented,” Cardona said of the Stanford product. “But really, his professionalism in the building and out of the building has been really impressive. He’s obviously done a good enough job to make an impression, and I know he’s going to continue to work hard.”
Asked about Bailey’s prodigious boot, Cardona replied: “He hits some big balls.”
“Jake has been really receptive to receiving coaching from, it feels like, everyone, and he’s done a great job with it,” Slater added. “Obviously, he’s got a unique skill set — you guys have seen him kick the ball.”
Cardona also made a point to note the work Allen put in to help Bailey improve, knowing full well it could result in his eventual termination.
“Ryan was such a professional in this whole process in helping Jake become a better, more refined punter,” he said. “I don’t think that there’s enough good to say about the guy.”
Speaking Tuesday morning on WEEI’s “Greg Hill Show,” Patriots quarterback Tom Brady said he expects Allen to catch on with a new team soon.
“There’s a lot of difficult decisions that are made,” Brady said. “Ryan was an incredible player — still is — and he’ll get another great opportunity.”
