From spending Thanksgiving on a cruise to the Bahamas to packing up and heading to The Bay, it's been a busy few days for the San Francisco 49ers newest safety Logan Ryan. The two-time Super Bowl champion hadn't officially retired from the league but had yet to log any snaps with a team during the 2023 season before San Francisco gave him a call.
Logan was spending time with the family before the opportunity to join the NFC West powerhouse presented itself.
"Once I knew the 49ers were interested, at that point, there wasn't any drinking on the cruise, and I occupied that gym quite a bit," Ryan said. "It was cool. It was my first Thanksgiving on a boat."
Ryan's most recent stint with an NFL team was in 2022 with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The veteran safety played nine games (six starts) and racked up 37 tackles (one tackle for loss), an interception, three passes defended, a fumble recovery and forced fumble.
Ryan was a third-round pick of the 2013 NFL Draft, and he's spent time with four other organizations over the course of 11 seasons including the New England Patriots, Tennessee Titans, New York Giants and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In addition to his veteran presence, Ryan offers the 49ers some flexibility in the secondary given he's logged reps at all three positions.
"Whether it was at corner, nickel or safety, you could just always tell he was a very hard guy to schematically beat, a very aware player, very similar to how Tashaun Gipson Sr. was before we got him," head coach Kyle Shanahan said. "When you do lose a lot of guys, you'd love to have an option to bring in a guy who's played some football and doesn't have to learn everything for the first time. He's been around enough to understand it and I was glad we were able to get him in here."
Over the course of the last month, the 49ers secondary has suffered two major losses with All-Pro safety Talanoa Hufanga sustaining a season-ending ACL tear and special teams ace George Odum tearing his biceps. Ryan provides some depth along with two other practice squad additions, Kemon Hall and Erik Harris.
He joined the team Wednesday, ready to get to work.
"I was watching a lot film this year anyways, working with some T.V. and media, breaking people down," Ryan said. "I was very familiar, and played against San Francisco last year for the Buccs. I've kind of seen what their offense does... but also defensively, all those guys really play well. They seem like a great unit and fun team to play for.
"By the time John Lynch had called me back, when I got off the cruise because I had no cell service, no WiFi. I had already watched every single game on tape of what the Niners do and had a good understanding of what they do. It's very impressive, I'm excited to be a part of it."
