Safety Ricardo Allen isn’t the only Falcons restricted free agent getting a second-round tender on Monday.
The team announced that guard Ben Garland is also being tendered at that level. Both players will be set to make $2.914 million if they play out the year under the terms of the tender.
Garland signed with the Falcons in 2015, but got his first NFL contract from the Broncos in 2010. He spent two years serving his military commitment to the Air Force and made his NFL debut in eight games for Denver in 2014. He’s played in every game for the Falcons the last two seasons and made the first four starts of his career after Andy Levitre was shut down with a triceps injury late in the year.
Garland played defensive line in college and has made cameos on that side of the ball in the NFL as well.
Levitre is expected back with the team after he took a pay cut earlier this month, but it’s clear the Falcons value Garland as a backup based on the high bar they’re asking other teams to clear if they want to sign him away.