Logan Ryan Willing to Wait, Not Take a Pay Cut

Free agent cornerback produced a number of career-highs in his third season with the Tennessee Titans.

Before he suits up for another team, cornerback Logan Ryan apparently is content to play the waiting game.

According to NFL Network reporter Ian Rapoport, Ryan plans to entertain any and all offers, including ones for a short-term deal. What he won’t do is accept a pay cut.

The seven-year veteran is considered one of the top free agents still available. He officially became an option for any of the league’s 32 teams Wednesday afternoon when the new contract year commenced.

Touched base with someone close to #Titans free agent CB Logan Ryan, one of the top players available. The versatile DB is open to entertaining all offers and will consider a short term deal. I’m told he won’t take less than $10M per year he earned last year.

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 19, 2020

Ryan earned $9.5 million in base salary plus a $500,000 signing bonus in 2019, the final season of a three-year $30 million free agent pact that brought him to the Titans in 2017 after four seasons with New England. The Patriots drafted him in 2013 (third round).

He set career-highs with 120 tackles, four and a half sacks, four forced fumbles and 19 passes defensed last season. His four interceptions were one short of his career-high. He finished second on the team in tackles during the regular season and the playoffs.

Four All-Pro voters included him on their ballots.

“If I could foresee the future the I would just start betting on games like they did in Back to the Future,” Ryan said following the season. “… I signed up for three years. That’s what the Titans offered. I took it and moved my family down here. I gave them three years and played in every game that I possibly could. Played every snap with my heart and soul.

“And right now, I’m looking for a job.”

Three years ago, Ryan signed with the Titans on March 11, four days after the legal tampering period opened and two days into the new league year. Relative to the flurry of activity that usually takes place at the outset, that exhibited great patience.

Players were free to begin negotiating with teams on Monday and could sign contracts beginning Wednesday afternoon for 2020.

In three seasons with the Titans, Ryan appeared in 45 out of a possible 48 regular season games. He missed the final two games of 2018 with a broken leg and one game in 2017 with an ankle injury.

Nine and a half of his 11 career sacks came with Tennessee as did five of eight career forced fumbles. He averaged 92.7 tackles per season, slightly more than he did in his two years as a starter with the Patriots (87.0).

He was a part of two playoff teams in the past three years and the Titans did not have a losing record with him on the roster (9-7 each time). With New England, he went to the postseason four times and was a part of two Super Bowl wins.

“I kid you not, all I wanted to do was to pour my heart and soul into this franchise,” Ryan said. “I wanted to make it a better place. If I were to leave, I wanted to make it a better place than when I came in. I feel like I did that.”