The Atlanta Falcons have signed punter Ryan Allen to their roster and promoted defensive tackle Jacob Tuioti-Mariner, filling a couple of roster spots that had been open since before the bye.
The Falcons have had an absurd carousel at the punter position, but hopefully Allen will be their final, productive signing of the 2019 season.
Falcons signing former Patriots’ P Ryan Allen, per sources.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) November 4, 2019
So that’s one thing the Falcons did during their bye week; they changed punters and kickers.
Earlier in the day, the team worked out punters Ryan Allen, Matt Darr, Johnny Townsend and Jacob Schum – but ultimately decided to sign Allen. Ryan Allen is a veteran, having punted for the New England Patriots from 2013-2018. Aside from being a 3x Super Bowl Champion, Allen is a two-time Ray Guy Award winner (2011, 2012) and has averaged 45.3 yards on 409 punts in his NFL career.
The move was needed, as the team parted ways with punter Kasey Redfern last week. Redfern was brought in following the teams’ release of punter Sam Irwin-Hill, who was added after they got rid of punter Matt Wile, who was signed following punter Matt Bosher being placed on injured reserve.
There’s been a lot of shakeup on special teams, which is something Falcons fans haven’t dealt with in years. Legendary kicker Matt Bryant was also let go last week, on the same day that the team released Redfern. It’ll be determined in the offseason if the team chooses to retain Bosher or move on and start fresh at both the kicker and punt positions.
Additionally, the Falcons signed defensive tackle Jacob Tuioti-Mariner to the active roster. In the preseason, Tuioti-Mariner had one sack and eight tackles. He has spent the entire offseason on the Falcons practice squad, but now gets his chance to join the active roster and potentially make an impact the rest of the way. It’ll be interesting to see if he’s a gameday inactive (maybe Deadrin Senat will be active?) or if Dan Quinn has a role in mind for him.