STRENGTHS
Ryan is a slot receiver with the quickness and mental strength to become a core player for your offense. He has excellent hands and is a smart route runner and will be a match up nightmare on third downs and inside the red zone. Ryan’s catch radius is unknown because he’s the type of receiver who will catch the ball if it’s in the air anywhere near him. He’s a “sellout receiver” meaning he will sell out his body to make the acrobatic catch because he knows he is one of the key players on the offense that will keep the offense from having a lot of three and outs. Ryan is the security blanket that all strong armed quarterbacks need to be successful in the NFL. You keep Ryan on the move and throw him the ball and then let his yards after the catch mount up as the game goes on. Ryan has foot quickness that will get him out of trouble and allow him to make those three or four extra yards on third down to make the needed yardage. He is smart and reads defenses and blitz packages so that he can cut off routes to help quarterbacks to keep the offense on the field. Ryan gives you a returner on special teams and a special player for your offensive team.

CONCERNS
Ryan doesn’t have the athletic talent and size of the perfect receiver for the NFL. He will struggle against top corner backs and that means he is limited to working in the slot and being what I call a move receiver. Put him in motion so that he can get a free shot off the line of scrimmage or in the slot match up against linebackers and safeties and watch the yardage and touch downs mount up.

BOTTOM LINE
I evaluate and profile football players. I don’t care how tall they are or how much they weigh or what the analytics are when it comes down to “HOW” they play the game. Yes I pay attention to all of those other issues but when it comes down to “HOW” a player plays the game that is the deciding factor for me. Ryan plays the game with so much heart and so much passion that size becomes his weapon and a problem for his opponents instead of his problem. Is Ryan a fit for every team in the NFL? No, he is only a fit for the smart teams. He’s not a fit for the lazy coach who thinks that Ryan is not big enough, or fast enough, or whatever other excuse they can come up with because basically they are scared to select a player like Ryan who requires an intelligent coach. Undrafted Wes Welker wasn’t a fit for the Charges or the Dolphins but he was for the Patriots and Broncos. You tell me what teams had smarter coaches at that time. In 2009 Patriots selected Julian Edelman in the 7th round when Wes Welker was still on the team and producing. It seems the only team that sees this type of quick footed, sure handed receiver’s potential is a coach that lives in the playoffs and super bowls every year! It will be interesting this year to see what team is smart enough to select Ryan. But what will really be interesting is if the team that selects him is smart enough to use Ryan to benefit his offense. Those coaches on the Charges and Dolphins didn’t know how to use Wes Welker and didn’t think his passion and football intelligence was a weapon they could maximize. They only saw a small receiver but what the Patriots saw was big passion, intelligence and talent in a small package. As of this writing, Ryan is not on Rob’s value board and that means there is potential for him to go undrafted or not be selected until the last few rounds. I wonder?????

Drew Boylhart  APR.2017