Seattle Seahawks punter Jon Ryan is going to make general manager John Schneider look really dumb. At least, that’s what he told Jayson Jenks of The Athletic this week.
“If you let me, I’m going to compete my ass off, harder than you’ve ever seen,” Ryan told Jenks he recalled saying to Schneider after April’s draft. “I love you. I have so much respect for you. But one way or the other, I’m going to make you look really dumb.”
Ryan, the longest-tenured member of the Seahawks, has been with the team since 2008. At 36 years old, he has two years left on his four-year deal but is facing some real competition to make the roster this season.
After trading up in this year’s NFL Draft, the Seahawks selected punter Michael Dickson in the fifth round out of Texas. The Australia native is a serious contender to make the 53-man squad, at Ryan’s expense.
“He had that attitude almost like, ‘Sorry, but I had to do it,'” Ryan said of Schneider after the Dickson pick. “And I was like, ‘Don’t apologize! Do not apologize.’ This is the business. If all the players got to pick who was on the team every year, we’d still have the Super Bowl team from five years ago.”
Ryan and the rest of the Seahawks have the summer off before the team reconvenes for the start of training camp on July 26. That gives Ryan just six weeks to prepare to make good on his vow.
But if there’s anyone who can make it happen, it’s Jon Ryan. And he’ll do it with a smile.
