BIOGRAPHY
Ricardo Jamal Allen was born on December 18, 1991, in Daytona Beach, Florida. He is a free safety in the NFL.
He attended Mainland high school, where he was a first-team Daytona Beach News-Journal All-Area selection as senior after posting 64 tackles and two interceptions. Also played soccer and participated in track and field.
He played college football for the Boilermakers at Purdue University; he started 12 games as a true freshman, earning second-team Freshman All-America honors from Scout.com and was named a second-team All-Big 10 selection. He tied for third on the team with 83 total tackles (56 solo), 3.5 tackles for loss, one sack, and a team-high three interceptions during his first season at Purdue in 2010.
He recorded 81 total tackles (62 solo), three tackles for loss, and a team-high three interceptions as a sophomore in 2011. He started 11 games as a junior in 2012, earning All-Big 10 honors after posting 46 tackles (43 solo), four tackles for loss, one sack, one interception, four passes broken up, and one forced fumble.
He led the Boilermakers with six interceptions during his senior season in 2013 while adding 53 tackles (42 solo), with four tackles for loss, and 12 passes defensed. Allen earned All-Big 10 honors all four years at Purdue and finished his career as the Boilermakers’ record holder with four interception returns for touchdowns, 13 interceptions, and 263 total tackles.
The Atlanta Falcons selected Allen in the fifth round (147th overall) of the 2014 NFL Draft; On May 18, 2014, the Atlanta Falcons signed Allen to a four-year contract. He spent the 2014 season as a member of the Falcons practice squad.
He played in 15 games with 14 starts in 2015 and totaled 68 tackles (59 solo) with three interceptions, one sack, one fumble recovery, and five passes defensed. He made the switch from cornerback to safety during the 2015 offseason. He started all 16 games at safety, totaling 90 tackles (61 solo) with two interceptions and three passes defensed in 2017.
He notched 14 tackles (six solo) with two interceptions during the postseason in Atlanta’s run to Super Bowl LI. In 2017, he posted 54 tackles (38 solo) with one interception, one tackle for loss, and one pass defense while starting 15 games at safety. He notched five tackles and one forced fumble in two postseason games.
He started the first three games of the season before being placed on Injured Reserve.
