Logan Ryan could be on the chopping or trading block, but he shouldn’t be. Not now. Not on this Giants team.
There are some people in the Giants’ front office that want to move on from the veteran safety, the Daily News has learned. But Ryan, who turned 31 on Feb. 9, is a critical leader and contributor.
Getting rid of him would be a mistake.
New GM Joe Schoen said he has the blessing of ownership to reshape this roster and organization however he sees fit. So Schoen holds the keys to whether Ryan remains in Blue, and it’s not clear yet which way the GM will lean.
No one has delivered Ryan any bad news yet, to The News’ knowledge. It wouldn’t hurt if new defensive coordinator Don “Wink” Martindale went to bat for Ryan, though. He provides significant value on and off the field.
Ryan was the defense’s best tackler last season, with linebacker Blake Martinez sidelined most of the year. He was the Giants’ Walter Payton Man of the Year nominee. He was a captain.
He played in 31 games the last two seasons. He should have played in 32; he just wasn’t cleared in time from the Covid list late this season. He has worn the green dot as the defense’s play-caller when needed the past two years.
And he’s the voice of the locker room, regularly accountable and answering for a 4-13 team’s frustrations and tribulations as other big names faded from public view.
In a true football sense, Ryan can help Martindale with two big picture elements: transitioning from Pat Graham’s scheme and executing in Wink’s.
Ryan played for defensive coordinator Dean Pees in 2018-19 with the Tennessee Titans, and there is obvious carryover to the way Martindale runs his side of the ball.
Martindale was the Baltimore Ravens’ linebackers coach for six seasons (2012-17) under Pees the Ravens’ defensive coordinator, before Martindale took over as the Ravens’ DC from 2018 through 2021. Pees and Martindale first worked together at Notre Dame in 1994.
Ryan can acclimate quickly and be a loud and clear voice in translating terminology and expectations to a defense and team that are still young.
Cutting Ryan wouldn’t clear a ton of money off the Giants’ salary cap, either, so it wouldn’t move the needle dramatically in helping Schoen clean up the team’s finances.
Ryan has $5.5 million of his $9.25 million salary for 2022 already guaranteed. Another $3 million becomes guaranteed on March 19.
The Giants could save $3.75 million in cash by cutting Ryan before March 19, but they’d absorb $11.45 million of his $12.25 million scheduled cap hit in dead money, per overthecap.com.
If they designated him a post-June 1 cut, they could drop the dead money hit to $8.475 million. They could clear the most money by packaging him in a trade, though.
They could reduce the dead money hit to $5.95 million with a pre-June 1 deal or to $2.975 million post-June 1.
The obvious move seemingly could come a year from now, with none of Ryan’s 2023 salary guaranteed and only a $2.975 million dead cap hit coming for his release next spring.
For now, though, Schoen and Brian Daboll have to see that the Giants’ defense has been the strength of this team the past two years, and that Ryan has been one of the most important players to making it work.
The best parts of the Giants’ identity are linked directly to how Ryan has operated and played. On a team with a ton of problems, he just doesn’t seem to be one of them.