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Ricardo Allen

Falcons Open To Long-Term Deal With Ricardo Allen

February 1st, 2018 at 10:21am CST by Zachary Links

Free safety Ricardo Allen is a restricted free agent this offseason, but the Falcons may look to lock him up with a multi-year contract. When asked about whether Allen could receive a long-term deal rather than play out the year under the one-year restricted free-agent tender, GM Thomas Dimitroff seemed open to the possibility. Ricardo Allen (vertical)

“Yes, I believe we can create space for Rico and a number of other players,” Dimitroff said (via Vaughn McClure of ESPN.com). “That said, we are always striving for creativity. And decisions made on certain free agents, whether they be restricted or unrestricted, oftentimes are contingent on the creativity they enable or not.”

No matter what, Allen is in line for a significant pay bump. Last year, he earned just $615K as an exclusive-rights free agent. Meanwhile, he proved to be an excellent value as he graded out as Pro Football Focus’ No. 31 ranked safety in the NFL (tied with Eric Reid, Tashaun Gipson, and Tre Boston).

The Falcons seem likely to at least place a second-round tender on Allen, which figures to come in at just under $3MM this year. RFAs have until April 20 to sign an offer sheet from a rival club and teams have until June 15 to withdraw the tender. Even if Allen signs a tender, it will not preclude the team from inking him to an extension.

As McClure notes, right tackle Ryan Schraeder signed a $2.553MM second-round tender in March 2016 only to agree to a five-year, $31.5MM extension with the Falcons that November. Allen could take that route, but he may also want to borrow a page from Andrew Norwell‘s playbook. The Panthers guard played under the $2.746MM RFA tender in 2017 and now figures to become one of the highest-paid players at his position as an unrestricted free agent this offseason.

Minor NFL Transactions: 7/26/17

July 26th, 2017 at 5:12pm CST by Connor J. Byrne

Wednesday’s minor moves:

  • The Saints have waived running back Marcus Murphy and moved offensive lineman Chris Watt to the reserved/retired list, tweets Josh Katzenstein of NOLA.com. Murphy, whom the Saints chose in the seventh round of the 2015 draft, served almost exclusively as a return man over his first two years, but he became superfluous to the team thanks to its offseason additions of Ted Ginn Jr. and Alvin Kamara. Watt signed with the Saints just over a month ago and looked like a candidate to function as interior O-line depth. That won’t be the case, though. The 26-year-old entered the NFL as a third-rounder of the Chargers in 2014 and started in eight of 17 appearances with them through last season.
  • The Jets have cut wide receiver Devin Street, per Clarence Hill Jr. of the Star-Telegram (on Twitter). New York will use Street’s old roster spot on Lucky Whitehead, whom it claimed off waivers from Dallas on Wednesday. A three-year veteran, Street was teammates with Whitehead when the two were on the Cowboys in 2015. Street was a member of the Colts last season, when he totaled five appearances and one catch. Indianapolis cut Street after the season, and both the Patriots and Jets have since waived him after short stints.
  • Safety Ricardo Allen has signed his exclusive rights free agent tender with the Falcons, who have waived undrafted offensive lineman Cam Keizer. Allen, a fifth-rounder in 2014, has emerged as an integral cog in Atlanta, having started in 30 of 31 appearances and picking off five passes since debuting in 2015. He racked up 90 tackles and two picks across 16 starts and a team-high 1,101 defensive snaps last year.
  • The Vikings have signed cornerback Sam Brown and waived offensive tackle Arturo Uzdavinis. Brown spent some time last year with the Ravens, who signed him as an undrafted free agent from Missouri Western State, but didn’t see any action. Uzdavinis just signed with the Vikings on Monday. They quickly became the fifth former team for the 2016 undrafted free agent from Tulane, who previously spent time with the Texans, Bears, Jaguars and Lions.
  • The Patriots have added defensive end Caleb Kidder, an undrafted rookie from Montana. Kidder previously had a brief stint with Minnesota, which cut him last week.

RFA/ERFA Tender Decisions: 3/8/17

March 8th, 2017 at 12:43pm CST by Sam Robinson

Unrestricted free agent news will obviously dominate the day, but several clubs also had to make decisions on whether to offer tenders to restricted and exclusive rights free agents. All RFA tenders listed are original round/right of first refusal (worth $1.797MM), and all links go to Twitter:

RFAs:

Tendered:

Non-Tendered: 

ERFAs:

Tendered:

Minor NFL Transactions: 3/17/16

March 17th, 2016 at 7:31pm CST by Zachary Links

Today’s minor signings, cuts, and other moves:

  • Linebacker Terence Garvin took to Twitter to announce that he has signed with Washington. Up until this point, Garvin had spent his entire career with the Steelers. The former UDFA out of West Virginia has appeared in 43 regular-season games (one start) and amassed 21 special teams tackles since breaking into the league in 2012. Garvin also drew interest from the Titans after he was non-tendered by Pittsburgh. Washington has since confirmed the signing.
  • Washington announced that running back Chris Thompson has been re-signed as an exclusive rights free agent, Tarik El-Bashir of CSN Mid-Atlantic (on Twitter). Thompson, a running back known for his catching ability, appeared in 13 games last season, totaling 240 yards off of 35 receptions with two touchdowns. He also ran the ball 35 times for 216 yards, good for a 6.2 yards-per-carry average.
  • Falcons safety Ricardo Allen signed his exclusive rights tender, according to Vaughn McClure of ESPN.com (on Twitter). Allen will now earn a $525K salary in 2016.

ERFA Signings & Decisions: 3/7/16

March 7th, 2016 at 5:28pm CST by Connor J. Byrne

Here are today’s transactions involving exclusive rights free agents:

  • The Falcons have tendered safety Ricardo Allen, reports Vaughn McClure of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Allen started in 14 of 15 appearances last season, amassing 68 tackles and three interceptions. Pro Football Focus (subscription required) ranked his performance 46th out of 88 qualifying safeties.
  • Cornerback Charles James has re-signed with the Texans, according to John McClain of the Houston Chronicle (Twitter link). The 25-year-old appeared in nine games for the Texans last season, logged one start and totaled 19 tackles. They’ve also re-signed offensive lineman Jeff Adams, tweets Tania Ganguli of ESPN. Adams started in both of his 2015 appearances.
  • The Patriots will tender corner Justin Coleman, per Jeff Howe of the Boston Herald (Twitter link). Coleman made 21 tackles in 10 games (two starts) last season.
  • The Bengals have re-signed center T.J. Johnson, according to their official Twitter account. Johnson appeared in 12 games last season.

Minor Moves: Tuesday

December 16th, 2014 at 9:00pm CST by Luke Adams

With contending teams vying for playoff spots and fighting for higher seeds, and non-contenders perhaps taking a longer look at younger players down the stretch, we can expect teams to make plenty of minor tweaks to their 53-man rosters this week. Here are Tuesday’s minor transactions, with the latest moves added to the top of the list throughout the day:

  • According to the league transaction wire, quarterback Chandler Harnish has been released by the Vikings, tweets Matt Vensel of the Star Tribune. Harnish was under an injured designation with a foot injury.
  • The Browns have made room for the addition of Andrew McDonald (noted below) by waiving linebacker Zac Diles, the club announced today (Twitter link).
  • The Buccaneers have released cornerback Crezdon Butler, and will likely announce more moves on Wednesday, according to Scott Smith of Buccaneers.com (Twitter link). One possible replacement for Butler could be former safety Mistral Raymond — a source tells Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun (Twitter link) that the former Viking worked out for Tampa Bay today.
  • The Raiders have plucked a player from across the bay, signing cornerback Chance Casey from off the 49ers’ practice squad, according to Matt Maiocco of CSNBayArea.com (Twitter link).

Earlier updates:

  • A day after being cut by the Colts, offensive tackle Andrew McDonald has been claimed off waivers by the Browns, according to agent Brett Tessler (Twitter link). It’s not clear yet who is coming off Cleveland’s roster to make room for the new addition.
  • Cornerback Josh Thomas, who apparently lost his playbook recently, won’t be needing it back now — he was released by the Jets today, according to the team (Twitter link). New York called up safety Rontez Miles from the practice squad to take Thomas’ place on the roster.
  • Offensive tackle J’Marcus Webb has been cut by the Vikings, the team announced today (Twitter link). Webb’s release comes on the heels of his missed block that led to a blocked field goal during Sunday’s loss to the Lions.
  • Having already made multiple roster moves today, the Ravens completed a couple more, placing running back Lorenzo Taliaferro on the injured reserve list and signed former defensive tackle Casey Walker off the Patriots’ practice squad, the club announced in a press release. Baltimore still has an open spot on its 53-man roster.
  • The Titans have swapped tight ends on their active roster, signing Matthew Mulligan and placing Brett Brackett on injured reserve, says Jim Wyatt of the Tennessean (Twitter links). Brackett’s season comes to a premature end due to a knee issue.
  • The Cardinals have placed defensive tackle Ed Stinson on injured reserve, ending his season, per Darren Urban of AZCardinals.com (via Twitter). Taking Stinson’s place on the roster is wide receiver Brittan Golden, promoted from Arizona’s practice squad.
  • The Falcons cleared a roster spot by placing cornerback Robert Alford on injured reserve yesterday with a wrist issue, and will fill that spot today by promoting cornerback Ricardo Allen from their practice squad, a source tells Vaughn McClure of ESPN.com (Twitter link). The team has since confirmed the move (via Twitter).
  • Agent Mike McCartney indicated today (via Twitter) that his client, offensive lineman Ryan Jensen, has received a promotion from the Ravens‘ practice squad to the team’s 53-man roster. It’s not clear yet whose spot Jensen is taking, but defensive backs Asa Jackson and Terrence Brooks are both expected to be placed on IR this week.

Sunday Transactions: NFC South

August 31st, 2014 at 5:01pm CST by Dallas Robinson

Listed below are the Sunday roster moves for the four NFC South teams. Following the 53-man roster cutdown deadline yesterday, many teams will make slight tweaks to their rosters, claiming players off waivers or signing guys who clear waivers. Those transactions are noted below.

Additionally, as of 11:00am CT today, teams can begin constructing their 10-man practice squads. For the 2014 and 2015 seasons, changes were made to practice squad rules that allow teams to carry eight players instead of 10, and the eligibility requirements for those extra two spots were also loosened. You can check out our glossary entry on practice squads to brush up on those changes, as well as all the other guidelines that govern the 10-man units, whose players practice with the team but aren’t eligible to suit up on Sundays.

Here are Sunday’s NFC South transactions, which will continue to be updated throughout the day:

Atlanta Falcons:

Carolina Panthers:

New Orleans Saints:

Tampa Bay Buccaneers:

Falcons Cut 10 Players, Down To 53

August 30th, 2014 at 3:31pm CST by Luke Adams

After officially announcing a first wave of cuts that included veteran linebacker Pat Angerer yesterday, the Falcons have confirmed their second wave of final cuts. According to a team release, Atlanta has parted ways with the following 10 players:

Falcons Sign Five Draft Picks

May 18th, 2014 at 1:43pm CST by Dallas Robinson

The Falcons have signed five draft picks from their 2014 class, the team announced on its website. LB Prince Shembo (fourth round), CB Ricardo Allen (fifth round), LB Marcus Spruill (fifth round), LB Yawin Smallwood (seventh round), and LB Tyler Starr (seventh round) are now all under contract with Atlanta.

The five picks indicate a concerted effort by the Falcons to improve their defense, which graded as the fourth-worst unit by DVOA. While these Day 3 selections aren’t likely to have a significant impact on the team’s successes, they could add depth to an Atlanta defense that proved to be extremely thin in 2013. Atlanta still has four picks left to sign, including first-rounder Jake Matthews and second-rounder Ra’Shede Hageman.