Allen wants to coach when his career ends

Associated Press

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — Ricardo Allen plans to start at free safety a few seasons longer for the Atlanta Falcons.

When his career ends, Allen wants to transition into coaching, but he has no interest in teaching defense. The career defensive back wants to become an offensive coordinator.

Allen made the most of his down time last year while spending the majority of the season on injured reserve with a torn Achilles. Considering himself a lifelong student of football, Allen broke down defenses across the NFL for about a month after surgery, but grew weary of the repetition and decided to delve into what makes an offense tick.

“I went back to the old school, back to Bill Walsh and the beginning of the West Coast (offense),” Allen said. “I went back to (former Falcons offensive coordinator Kyle) Shanahan when he was here and all the stuff he was running in practice.

“Just try to learn as much from the coordinators and the people who actually like invented the offense and the people with the most knowledge. I was just studying it over and over, like if I was a quarterback or I was a wide receiver or a running back trying to learn the offense. I was just trying to learn it from the foundation of it. I got bored, so I did something.”

Allen went so far recently during offseason training activities as to ask Falcons coach Dan Quinn if he could skip defensive meetings and instead sit in with the offense. Quinn, also the team’s defensive coordinator, agreed, but with one stipulation.

“That part is not unusual for a guy to go to any length for any advantage (he) can get, but it was a first time for me of ‘Hey, do you mind if I sit in the quarterbacks meetings?’ “Quinn said. “I was like, ‘You can, but you’re not in there to ask questions.’ “

Allen kept quiet during the sessions, but he had plenty of questions afterward and asked for one-on-time time with quarterback Matt Ryan.

“Later on in life, I’ll probably try to transition over to probably being an offensive coordinator or be something,” Allen said. “At least I can help. Hopefully I can play good enough, work good enough that I can make enough (money) with my body that I can choose who I want to learn under or I can choose to go to teams and just study and help the team grow.”

Allen says he feels fully healthy after the Week 3 injury that resulted in his getting carted off the field against New Orleans. He has returned to a unit that ranked 25th in scoring and 27th against the pass.