Jon Ryan has a message for the Seahawks brass, and I love it
When the Seahawks drafted a punter in the fifth round, Jon Ryan took it as a message. Now he’s delivered his own to the Seattle office.
It can’t ever be easy to see your team draft a player at your position. That goes double when there’s typically just one player on the roster with your job. Almost every roster spot has a backup, but not punter. So when Jon Ryan saw the Seahawks draft punter Michael Dickson, he knew his team was sending a message. Turns out he had one of his own to send back.
Ryan originally spoke with Jason Jenks of The Athletic about the experience. Fair warning: theathletic.com is subscription only. You’ll find excellent writing by people like Jenks and Michael-Shawn Dugar, and I recommend the site whole-heartedly. Just don’t complain that I linked to a pay site without warning you. You can get more of the story from Kevin Patra on nfl.com right here. Regardless of how you research it, Jon Ryan got the message loud and clear.
Ryan told Jenks about the conversation he had with Seahawks general manager John Schneider after the draft. As Ryan recalled, Schneider was somewhat apologetic…
"“He had that attitude almost like, ‘Sorry, but I had to do it…'” Ryan said relaying what Schneider told him of drafting Dickson. “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.”"
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Jon Ryan likes a challenge
So Ryan obviously gets it. He’s slated to make $2.6 million this year, while Dickson’s salary is $480,000. Ryan has been a fine punter for his entire decade with the Seahawks. But Michael Dickson shows every sign of being a once in a generation talent. He could be better, AND cheaper. That’s the fastest ticket out of town there is. Other than punching a teammate – right, Percy?
Back to Jon Ryan. Ryan doesn’t just drink the “Always Compete” Kool-Aid. He apparently bathes in it. He doesn’t care that Dickson looks like he could rewrite the record books for punters. His response to Schneider is simply beautiful:
"“If you let me, I’m going to compete my ass off, harder than you’ve ever seen,” Ryan remembered saying to Schneider. “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."
For the record, it certainly appears that Seattle is going to let Ryan compete his posterior off. He was the holder for the number one kicker in camp, Sebastian Janikowski. That’s a message to Dickson. Regardless of his promise, he’s in a fight for this job, as much as Ryan is.
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A lot of guys pout when their team drafts competition. I’m looking at you, Big Ben, and you too, Joe Flacco. Ryan sees his team draft a punter. Read that again – draft a punter. Not only that, but the Seahawks traded up to get him. Michael Dickson won the Ray Guy award as the best punter in college football. But if he pans out like most think he will, they’re going to change the name of that award to his. That’s competition. And what does Jon Ryan say? “I’m going to make you look really dumb.” I have a strong feeling Dickson is going to make Pete Carroll and John Schneider look like geniuses, but I love Ryan’s response to the challenge.