Giants safety Logan Ryan relishes spotlight

Logan Ryan spent the first few years of his career trying his hardest not to get noticed. As a third-round pick of the Patriots, he quickly learned the way players there handled their business, especially when there were cameras and microphones around.

"It was a very veteran locker room," he told Newsday this past week. "I was kind of just a happy soldier, kept my mouth closed and went to work. That’s what it needed to be. I had to earn my stripes every day out there. The media? I was just ‘Yes sir, yes ma’am.’ Do my job. Team, team, team. Which is cool. I was focused on the mission of winning, and that was great."

He did a lot of that, helping the Patriots win Super Bowls XLIX and LI in his four years there.

Toward the end of that run, though, he started to become more of a leader. He found more off-the-field pursuits. He found he had something to say.

"I really found my voice," he said.

The stage on which he could use it, though? That was shrinking significantly.

Ryan signed to play with the Titans in Nashville, and even though they had success as a team and made it to the AFC Championship Game, the small-market city made it impossible for his newfound voice to carry.

"I was doing a lot of the same things," he said. "People just weren’t noticing. I didn’t have the platform."

For the past 14 months, that hasn’t been a problem.

That’s how long Ryan has been a safety for the Giants. He resurrected his career here, moving from cornerback to safety, coming close to a Pro Bowl nod and signing a three-year, $31 million contract last December.

Perhaps more significantly, though, it’s given him a chance to pursue his next career as well.

With his easy charm, keen insights and knowledge of the game, Ryan — who is starting a podcast through the NFL later this season — seems like a natural to follow the well-trodden path from Giants locker room to the television screen once his playing days are over, continuing a nearly unbroken chain that reaches all the way back to Frank Gifford and Pat Summerall and continues to this day with Michael Strahan and — who would have thought it? — Eli Manning.

That’s assuming it’s something Ryan even wants to do.

"Honestly, I think I have a great skill set on the field and I’m versatile," he said. "I’m there to make the players around me better, I’m there to be a leader and inspire every day, I’m there to do my job and make the plays that come my way. But ultimately I’m here to use my platform to be a humanitarian and entrepreneur going forward."

He already has some projects that fulfill that goal. He and his wife, Ashley, are the founders of the Ryan Animal Rescue Foundation (RARF.org), which works with animal welfare organizations to promote adoption and provide grants and educational opportunities. He and his father, Lester, a 25-year veteran of the Camden Police Department in New Jersey, started Ryan Alternative Solutions Training, or RAST, that helps police officers learn de-escalation tactics and avoid use-of-force techniques. The program is in place in Camden and has received interest from other larger forces, including the New York Police Department.

Neither of those are going away anytime soon.

"A lot of the things I am doing are things I share with people I love, but it’s to make the world a better place," Ryan said.

As for what he wants to do after his playing days are over — what he’d like to be when he grows up — he isn’t exactly sure. His newfound status in New York certainly has opened plenty of doors to him.

"Obviously, media is an option," he said. "But I don’t know if I want to be [Nate] Burleson or Mike Strahan just yet."

He’s also had conversations with Joe Judge about a potential future in NFL personnel and front-office jobs. He was leaned on by the Giants for his evaluations of some free-agent moves and even helped woo Adoree’ Jackson and Kenny Golladay into signing with the team. Instead of the next Strahan, might he become the next John Lynch, John Elway or Ozzie Newsome?

"I’m the [NFLPA] player rep for our team, though, so I’m an every-player-needs-a-raise type of guy," he said. "I don’t know how I would be as a GM . . . I do like the nuance of building something, but it would be hard for me to not reward all the good guys."

He has time to figure it all out. There still is plenty of football left in him at age 30.

But when the time comes, he’ll have New York’s megaphone to thank for allowing his voice to be amplified and his opportunities to be multiplied.

By Tom Rock

tom.rock@newsday.com@TomRock_Newsday

Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.