Getty Ricardo Allen of the Atlanta Falcons.
“Y’all better not call me Coach,” is what longtime Atlanta Falcons safety Ricardo Allen wrote to his former teammates when he announced his retirement on February 21.
But just two weeks he after retired, “coach” became his new title after joining the Miami Dolphins as a special teams assistant, according to Alain Poupart of Sports Illustrated.
The Dolphins have hired Ricardo Allen as a special teams assistant. He was with head coach Mike McDaniel with Atlanta when he was a DB for the Falcons.
Allen, 30, has reunited with former Falcons offensive assistant Mike McDaniel (2015-16), who was hired February 6 to replace Brian Flores as Miami’s head coach.
ALL the latest Falcons news straight to your inbox! Join the Heavy on Falcons newsletter here!
Coaching Has Been in Allen’s Plans
When Allen tore his Achilles in September 2018 and missed the rest of the season, he spent his downtime studying the league’s defenses. Then he began examining offenses.
“I went back to the old school, back to Bill Walsh and the beginning of the West Coast (offense),” Allen said in a July 2019 story on Fox Sports. “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.”
At the time, Falcons head coach Dan Quinn let Allen attend QB meetings – under one condition.
“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 in the same Fox Sports story. “I was like, ‘You can, but you’re not in there to ask questions.’ ”
Allen did as he was told, but that didn’t stop him from asking veteran quarterback Matt Ryan for answers.
“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.”
Well, it appears Allen got his wish sooner rather than later.
Allen Brings Leadership Experience to Miami
Allen was a leader in both the Falcons’ locker room and the Atlanta community after joining the team in 2014 as a fifth-round pick.
As a Falcon, Allen played a big role in the Falcons’ Social Justice Committee, dedicated to addressing social justice issues within the Atlanta community. The four-time team captain also paid tribute to the servicemen and women who serve the country, traveling to West Point Military Academy to participate in military-based leadership training. And in 2019, Allen was nominated for the NFL’s Walter Payton Man of the Year award, which recognizes a player for his excellence on and off the field.
However, his leadership role didn’t stop when he parted ways with Atlanta and signed with the Bengals last offseason. He motivated his teammates before and during the 2022 Super Bowl as the only Bengals player to have played in a Super Bowl.
“They have reached out to me a lot,” Allen said during Super Bowl week, via The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “They are asking me a lot of questions about how the Falcons lost a 28-3 lead in the Super Bowl. It’s just the experience that I’m able to tell them about that game. Just being able to play back through it and tell them what I believe could have helped us win.”
Allen’s former secondary coach in Cincinnati, Robert Livingston, also has high regard for the former safety.
“His veteran leadership has been great,” Livingston said in the February 10 Journal-Constitution story. “I can’t speak enough about it. I told him a long time ago that he was going to do more for me than I probably ever do for him.”
Allen finished his NFL career playing in 91 games. He made 355 tackles, 11 interceptions and 26 pass breakups in 77 starts.
READ NEXT:
- Trade Proposal: Falcons Swap Receivers With Cowboys
- Proposed Offseason Trade Sends Falcons’ Calvin Ridley to Browns
- Falcons’ GM Terry Fontenot Talks Salary Cap Game Plan