The New England Patriots are releasing punter Ryan Allen, according to the Boston Globe's Jim McBride. The move was an expected one following the selection of Stanford's Jake Bailey in the fifth-round of the 2019 NFL Draft.

Allen went undrafted in the 2013 draft, hailing from Louisiana Tech. Since then, the Patriots are the only NFL team he has known, as he enjoyed a six-year stint with the team. In that span, the 29-year-old won three Super Bowls with the franchise.

Allen finished 2018 around league average in punting yards (2,885, 18th), average yardage (45.1, 16th), and longest punt (66, 12th). Though, he had himself an excellent Super Bowl—even some thought he would be worthy of the MVP award—in his final game as a Patriot, Allen booted five balls for 215 yards; an average of 43 yards per kick.

Bailey, at Stanford as a senior, booted 68 balls for 2,996 yards on a 44.1 average. They were not great numbers, but he is more of a hang-time ace than home run punter.

Head coach Bill Belichick recently said on Bailey, per USA Today's Sean McGuire,

“Jake’s got a lot to learn. He has talent. [He has] done a number of different things, from punting to holding to kicking off. Again, there is a lot of situational things that fall with those areas of responsibility. So, we’re working our way through some of those and we’ll see how it goes.”

Bailey's learning curve will need to be mastered a bit quicker now that he is the starter. As for Allen, he is a talented punter, and he should find an NFL squad before the regular season.R