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FRI., AUG 4, 2006 - 1:28 AM
Packers: Ryan's hope closer to reality
JASON WILDE
608-252-6176
jwilde@madison.com
GREEN BAY - The sales clerk behind the counter at the Bay Park Square mall Gap had no idea. Neither did the server at the Old Chicago pizza joint down the street, nor the cashier at the Stadium Citgo across from Lambeau Field.
When Jon Ryan goes pretty much anywhere in this town, he looks like ... well, pretty much everybody else around here - from his fair skin (he has to load up on sunblock before practice) to his tousled red semi-mullet (the kid's from Canada, after all); from the way he dresses (t-shirt, flip-flops, ratty cargo shorts, old-school logo Milwaukee Brewers hat) to the way he talks ("Eh" is a big part of the lexicon both in Saskatchewan and in Northeastern Wisconsin).
"If you just saw me walking down the street, you'd never guess I was an NFL football player," Ryan admitted between the Green Bay Packers' two training-camp practices Thursday. "I'm a pretty average-looking guy."
Perhaps, but that anonymity could change soon. Ryan may be an average-looking guy, but he has an extraordinary leg.
A week into camp, Ryan has done nothing to squander his lead in the Packers' punting derby over incumbent B.J. Sander, whom Ryan out-kicked throughout offseason workouts. He is first on the official depth chart and whenever he and Sander punt during practice, Ryan gets to go first.
"He's earned that right," special teams coordinator Mike Stock said.
Although Stock insists that the competition will continue through the team's preseason games, it would take quite the collapse by the seemingly unflappable Ryan for Sander to reclaim the job. Ryan consistently kicks the ball farther than Sander, and his hangtime and get-off times have steadily improved. Sander, a third-round pick in 2004 by ex-coach and general manager Mike Sherman, simply doesn't have as much leg power as Ryan.
"I don't worry too much about what B.J.'s doing or how he's punting. I worry about myself," said Ryan, who attended the University of Regina in his home town in Saskatchewan and was a third-round pick in the 2004 CFL draft. "And if I keep punting the way I am, things will work themselves out. So right now, I'm happy to be first on the depth chart, but it's a long way from being over."
Even before he set a CFL single-season record for gross punting average (50.6 yards) last season, Ryan was on the Green Bay pro personnel department's radar, and the Packers were one of several teams that went after him this winter.
"Our pro scouts - Reggie McKenzie, Eliot Wolf, Tim Terry - do a lot of work on the Canadian side during the summer. When all of us are on vacation, they're up in Canada traipsing around and going to training camps," general manager Ted Thompson said Thursday, trying to explain how Ryan ended up here. "It became apparent that (Ryan) was considered by many people (to be) the best prospect to come to the NFL."
Ryan impressed the Packers during his Jan. 16 tryout - his strong leg was "very evident from Day One," coach Mike McCarthy said - and while the New York Giants actually outbid the Packers by $5,000 in what Thompson called a "fairly heated competition," Ryan accepted Green Bay's offer of a $35,000 signing bonus and joined the club Feb. 1.
That's a lot of money for a "street" free agent, but not so much when you consider the Packers gave Sander a $583,250 signing bonus. That $35,000 is now looking like money well-spent, especially given the importance of kicking in the Wisconsin weather - something Sander struggled with last season.
"You've got to have a good leg up there," said Stock, who played in the CFL in the early 1960s. "This guy, it's not like he got to kick in Miami. He went to Toronto. Montreal. Hamilton. Edmonton. Saskatchewan. Calgary. He didn't go down to Atlanta and kick in the (Georgia) Dome. Or Tampa. Or Houston. Or Arizona. So he's had success in those elements. I'm not going to be surprised if he can have success in these elements."
Stock admitted he has been pleasantly surprised by Ryan's hangtimes but would still like to see him get the ball off faster and improve his pooch kicks. Ryan will get his first true live action in Saturday night's intrasquad scrimmage and the Aug. 12 preseason opener at San Diego.
If all goes well, he hopes to make Green Bay his home for a long time - and a place he might even be recognized.
"In terms of the city, I feel like I fit in real well. It feels just like home," Ryan said. "When I first got here, I was talking to some guys from Texas, and they were like, 'Man, this is nothing like home.' And I said, 'This feels exactly like home to me.' Hopefully if things work out here, I'd love to move here and start a family here."
HOLD THE FAITH - GO PACKERS IN 2006 !!
Packers: Ryan's hope closer to reality
JASON WILDE
608-252-6176
jwilde@madison.com
GREEN BAY - The sales clerk behind the counter at the Bay Park Square mall Gap had no idea. Neither did the server at the Old Chicago pizza joint down the street, nor the cashier at the Stadium Citgo across from Lambeau Field.
When Jon Ryan goes pretty much anywhere in this town, he looks like ... well, pretty much everybody else around here - from his fair skin (he has to load up on sunblock before practice) to his tousled red semi-mullet (the kid's from Canada, after all); from the way he dresses (t-shirt, flip-flops, ratty cargo shorts, old-school logo Milwaukee Brewers hat) to the way he talks ("Eh" is a big part of the lexicon both in Saskatchewan and in Northeastern Wisconsin).
"If you just saw me walking down the street, you'd never guess I was an NFL football player," Ryan admitted between the Green Bay Packers' two training-camp practices Thursday. "I'm a pretty average-looking guy."
Perhaps, but that anonymity could change soon. Ryan may be an average-looking guy, but he has an extraordinary leg.
A week into camp, Ryan has done nothing to squander his lead in the Packers' punting derby over incumbent B.J. Sander, whom Ryan out-kicked throughout offseason workouts. He is first on the official depth chart and whenever he and Sander punt during practice, Ryan gets to go first.
"He's earned that right," special teams coordinator Mike Stock said.
Although Stock insists that the competition will continue through the team's preseason games, it would take quite the collapse by the seemingly unflappable Ryan for Sander to reclaim the job. Ryan consistently kicks the ball farther than Sander, and his hangtime and get-off times have steadily improved. Sander, a third-round pick in 2004 by ex-coach and general manager Mike Sherman, simply doesn't have as much leg power as Ryan.
"I don't worry too much about what B.J.'s doing or how he's punting. I worry about myself," said Ryan, who attended the University of Regina in his home town in Saskatchewan and was a third-round pick in the 2004 CFL draft. "And if I keep punting the way I am, things will work themselves out. So right now, I'm happy to be first on the depth chart, but it's a long way from being over."
Even before he set a CFL single-season record for gross punting average (50.6 yards) last season, Ryan was on the Green Bay pro personnel department's radar, and the Packers were one of several teams that went after him this winter.
"Our pro scouts - Reggie McKenzie, Eliot Wolf, Tim Terry - do a lot of work on the Canadian side during the summer. When all of us are on vacation, they're up in Canada traipsing around and going to training camps," general manager Ted Thompson said Thursday, trying to explain how Ryan ended up here. "It became apparent that (Ryan) was considered by many people (to be) the best prospect to come to the NFL."
Ryan impressed the Packers during his Jan. 16 tryout - his strong leg was "very evident from Day One," coach Mike McCarthy said - and while the New York Giants actually outbid the Packers by $5,000 in what Thompson called a "fairly heated competition," Ryan accepted Green Bay's offer of a $35,000 signing bonus and joined the club Feb. 1.
That's a lot of money for a "street" free agent, but not so much when you consider the Packers gave Sander a $583,250 signing bonus. That $35,000 is now looking like money well-spent, especially given the importance of kicking in the Wisconsin weather - something Sander struggled with last season.
"You've got to have a good leg up there," said Stock, who played in the CFL in the early 1960s. "This guy, it's not like he got to kick in Miami. He went to Toronto. Montreal. Hamilton. Edmonton. Saskatchewan. Calgary. He didn't go down to Atlanta and kick in the (Georgia) Dome. Or Tampa. Or Houston. Or Arizona. So he's had success in those elements. I'm not going to be surprised if he can have success in these elements."
Stock admitted he has been pleasantly surprised by Ryan's hangtimes but would still like to see him get the ball off faster and improve his pooch kicks. Ryan will get his first true live action in Saturday night's intrasquad scrimmage and the Aug. 12 preseason opener at San Diego.
If all goes well, he hopes to make Green Bay his home for a long time - and a place he might even be recognized.
"In terms of the city, I feel like I fit in real well. It feels just like home," Ryan said. "When I first got here, I was talking to some guys from Texas, and they were like, 'Man, this is nothing like home.' And I said, 'This feels exactly like home to me.' Hopefully if things work out here, I'd love to move here and start a family here."
HOLD THE FAITH - GO PACKERS IN 2006 !!
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