The New England Patriots Take A Gamble, Cut Veteran Punter Ryan Allen And Go With Rookie Jake Bailey

By Jordan Long

The New England Patriots cut punter Ray Allen.  Allen was in New England the past 6 years.  With this move the Patriots free up $1.4 million for their cap space this season.  They will go with rookie Jake Bailey to handle the punter duties this season.

                Allen was one of the most consistent punters in the NFL. He was able to punt the ball inside the 20, giving the opponents’ offense a long field to drive the football to score points.  Last season, Allen averaged 45.1 yards per punt with a long of 66 yards.  21 of his punts were downed inside the 20.  Allen had an impressively low number of 5 punts roll into the endzone for touchbacks.  His punting helped the Patriots go 11-5.

                In the playoffs he punted 11 times with an average of 42.1 yards and a long of 53 yards.  Of those 11 punts, 2 went into the endzone for touchbacks.  The Patriots were able to down the ball inside the 20 yard line 6 times.  His leg helped New England capture Super Bowl LIII.

                The Patriots are taking a gamble by letting him go.  Allen is one of the top punters in the league and his experience is hard to replace.  They knew what they had in him.  He was a weapon for the special teams.  New England wants to free up cap space with this move.  Allen was going to be a free agent at the end of the year and may have tested free agency anyway.

                The Patriots are now going to go with rookie punter Jake Bailey.  Bailey was drafted by the Patriots in the 5^th-round of this years’ NFL Draft.  He played his college football at Stanford for the previous 4 years.  There he had an average of 43.8 yards per punt. He had 76 of his punts downed inside the 20 while 17 went for touchbacks.  Bailey never had a punt blocked in his college career.

                Those are impressive numbers but that is in college.  In the preseason so far, Bailey has punted twice and averaged 49.5 yards. Neither of his punts were downed inside the 20.  That is not a bad number but the Patriots hope he can land the ball inside the 20.  If not, the Patriots will wonder why they made this cost cutting move.

                For Allen, he should gain interest from teams around the NFL.  He is a veteran punter who knows how to back up an offense with his leg.  He may not be out of a job long, but it may take until the  regular season before a team agrees to a contract with him. ffffffffff