The next great NFL offensive coordinator is a starter on the Atlanta Falcons defense
Is the next great NFL offensive coordinator a starter on the Atlanta Falcons defense?
By and large, when you look across the NFL, coaches who played the game, coach their same side of the ball, and the Atlanta Falcons coaching staff is no different. However, Falcons safety Ricardo Allen says after his time in the NFL is over, he wants to become an offensive coordinator.
He recently joined the Jim Rome Show and stated that when he retires that he, in fact, wants to go to the other side of the ball so he can teach offensive players what he has learned over the years.
"“I understand what keeps me up at night. I understand what a defense does not want to see and I understand what makes a defense nervous. I understand all of those things. I studied from the defensive line all the way to the secondary. I can teach quarterbacks and I can teach offensive players what the defense is trying to do to them.”"
Very rarely do guys of his stature and longevity get into coaching when their careers are over. Sure, some guys do and many times those players have gone on to be successful coaches. We see it right now with Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Vrabel, Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich and Seattle Seahawks defensive coordinator Ken Norton Junior.
Most of the time, guys simply go enjoy retirement or work their way into TV or radio.
Ricardo Allen is invaluable to the Atlanta Falcons defense.
There is little doubt that once Ricardo Allen decides to hang it up and retire that he won’t go on to successfully do whatever he wants in life and there are certainly a lot of young people coming up in the game that would benefit from all of the knowledge that he has accumulated over a lifetime of football.
His leadership ability will be extremely important to the success of the Atlanta Falcons in 2020. With a secondary full of players under the age of 24, the knowledge he has accumulated on the defensive side of the ball will be vital to players like A.J. Terrell, Jordan Miller, and Kendall Sheffield.
Matt Schaub ranked in bottom third of backup NFL QB’s. dark. Next
If the Atlanta Falcons are going to find themselves back in the playoffs in 2020, Ricardo Allen is going to be a major reason the defense improves enough to make that happen.