Falcons free safety Ricardo Allen, who was tendered as a restricted free agent at the second-round level at $2.914 million, signed his tender on Monday, according to two sources familiar with the negotiations.
Allen, who recently graduated from Purdue, was hoping for a long-term deal with the team. But the deal is nearly four times as much as he made last season when he had a base salary of $615,000.
Allen, who played at Purdue from 2010-2013, was selected by the Falcons in the fifth round of the 2014 NFL Draft as a cornerback.
Allen, 26, had a bumpy start to his career. He was cut and spent a season on the practice squad. He settled in nicely as the team’s starting free safety after a position switch under coach Dan Quinn.
In four seasons with the Falcons, Allen has played in 46 games and made 45 starts. He has six interceptions, 10 deflected passes, one fumble recovery and 158 tackles. Last season, Allen, who knows the intricacies of the defense, slid inside to play nickel back as the secondary was hit with injuries.
Allen was proud that he returned to college to earn his degree.
“It was good, just going to school for all those years, when I left, I didn’t come out with anything at first, but I always knew that I had a plan to go back and finish,” Allen said recently. “ It felt great to be able to walk on that stage even though it wasn’t with anybody that I personally knew, but it was all good.”
Last season, the Falcons defense improved from 27th to eighth in scoring defense, 25th to ninth in total yards, 17th to ninth in rushing yards and 28th to 12th in passing yards.
Allen believes the Falcons defense can make another big improvement.
“We have to keep finding things that we know we want to get better at as a team and as a group,” Allen said. “Keep building together and work on the things that we consider are weak spots. Those are the things we have to focus on, but we have to keep building our strengths, too.”
Allen said that defensive coordinator Marquand Manuel is getting more comfortable as he’s set to enter into his second year in the position.
“It gives him another year under his belt with the calling and things like that,” Allen said. “It also gives us another year as a defense to know what times he’s going to be calling things and what situations are his favorite to call whatever plays.
“There is a lot (of room) to grow.”
