Is Ryan Allen's job in jeopardy?
Ryan Allen is heading into the last year of his contract with the Patriots. This weekend the team signed two left-footed punters. Here's a look into the punter situation in Foxboro.
ALLEN'S CONTRACT- Assuming Allen remains the Patriots' punter in 2018, his cap hit would be $2 million. If the Patriots were to part ways with him, they would be off the hook for his base salary of $1.3 million and his roster bonus of $200,000.
RYAN ANDERSON- While I am a huge Ryan Allen fan, I do think it would be pretty easy to welcome Anderson with open arms (kind of like when Mike Lowell replaced my SMSU boy Bill Mueller). A quick look at Anderson shows us he's a lefty punter out of the Pats' feeder program, Rutgers. Of course Rutgers was just the last stop of his collegiate career.
Prior to transferring to Rutgers, Anderson played two seasons at DIII Olivet. While at Olivet he played both football and basketball. In his two seasons as a football player he averaged 44.4 yards per punt with 30% of his punts landing his opponents inside their own 20. If you don't consider punters to be football players, no worries, Anderson also played some wide receiver at Olivet. As a receiver he had 13 receptions (6.4 yards average with 1 touchdown).
Prior to transferring to Rutgers, Anderson played two seasons at DIII Olivet. While at Olivet he played both football and basketball. In his two seasons as a football player he averaged 44.4 yards per punt with 30% of his punts landing his opponents inside their own 20. If you don't consider punters to be football players, no worries, Anderson also played some wide receiver at Olivet. As a receiver he had 13 receptions (6.4 yards average with 1 touchdown).
Before playing at the DIII level, Anderson played two seasons at DII Saginaw Valley State. As a high school athlete he played football, basketball and baseball at DeWitt High School in Michigan. The video below shows the 6'1" Ryan playing some wide receiver during his high school career. The first clip shows something a little extra special....
COREY BOJORQUEZ- Another lefty punter, Corey Bojorquez most recently played at New Mexico. In his two seasons for the Lobos, Corey had some lengthy kicks. His longest punt was 80 yards his junior season. Senior year he kicked one 78 yards. While length isn't typically a skill needed when playing for the Patriots, the fact that he causes a lot of muffs and pins teams inside their 20 is a plus.
Before transferring to New Mexico, Corey played two seasons at Cerritos College. According to Corey, he got into punting as a way to avoid running during high school soccer practice. The 6'0" 217 pound punter is right handed and an ordained minister.
Before transferring to New Mexico, Corey played two seasons at Cerritos College. According to Corey, he got into punting as a way to avoid running during high school soccer practice. The 6'0" 217 pound punter is right handed and an ordained minister.
COMPETITION OR SOMETHING ELSE- Bringing in an extra punter isn't necessarily a doomsday sign for Allen, but bringing in two has to be something right? Only a fool would try to predict what Belichick is ever planning. Here are some possible reasons I have for having three punters at this stage of the offseason:
- ​Competion, yes that's definitely one possibility.
- Replacement possibilities if Allen gets injured.
- Building familiarity with Gostkowski (goes hand in hand with injury possibility)
- Lots of live punting to returners during practice. Variety of ball flights to deal with.
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