Allen cut, Bailey gets punter job
The Patriots’ punter battle officially has concluded.
The team informed veteran Ryan Allen of his release, according to a source, clearing the way for rookie Jake Bailey to take the job.
Allen’s release was first reported by The Boston Globe.
This was the expected outcome in the punter competition. The Pats traded up in the fifth round to draft Bailey, who averaged 44.1 yards per punt as a senior at Stanford.
Bailey has flashed unbelievable power and hang time on his punts throughout training camp, but at times has struggled with consistency.
“Jake’s got a lot to learn,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said at joint practices in Nashville. “He has talent. He has done a number of different things from punting, to holding, to kicking off. Again, there’s a lot of situational things that fall within those areas of responsibility. We’re working our way through some of those and we’ll see how it goes.”
In Saturday’s preseason game, Bailey got the call to take the free kick after a Titans safety. He punted the ball 67 yards in the air, sending it all the way to the Tennessee 13-yard line.
He’ll replace Allen, who beat out incumbent Zoltan Mesko in the summer of 2013 and held the job for six seasons. Allen played one of the best games of his career in Super Bowl LIII against the Rams, pinning three punts inside the Los Angeles 10-yard line.
Allen re-signed on a oneyear deal before the Patriots’ selection of Bailey.