If 49ers general manager John Lynch called five minutes later and reached voice mail, Logan Ryan’s week on a Disney cruise at Thanksgiving would have looked very different.
Instead of starting and ending his “Very Merrytime Cruise” days in the ship’s gym, joining a 5K run after disembarking in the Bahamas and limiting himself to one glass of wine at dinner, Ryan could have jumped into the relaxation perks of retirement after a 10-year NFL career.
Ryan thought that’s what he signed up for when he left his Tampa, Fla. home, but his mind mostly was changed by the time cell service dropped out at sea and Lynch gave him until docking to decide if he wanted to patch an injury-shortened secondary. He signed a one-year contract on Dec. 5.
“I was really at peace with what I’d done, and I wanted to just get stability for my family now,” Ryan told The Post. “I told a couple teams ‘no’ this year. But I have a lot of respect for how the 49ers play. I watched all their film while on the cruise, and I felt like I could fit into the defense. I told my wife, ‘It’s 68 days until the Super Bowl,’ and she was excited about it. There were only a few teams in the league I would do this for.”
The countdown shows that Super Bowl 2024 now is only six days away, and Ryan is one win away from earning a third Super Bowl ring.
Unlike when the Rutgers product won two with the Patriots early in his career, Ryan’s 8-year-old daughter — a toddler with noise-canceling headphones when he last was on this stage in 2016 — and 5-year-old son can be part of moments like the on-field victory celebration after the NFC Championship game.
And maybe the red-and-gold confetti that will rain Sunday if the 49ers beat the Chiefs.
“I appreciated it back then — those Patriots teams worked so hard — but what I really appreciate now is that my kids can enjoy and remember it,” Ryan said. “They don’t know anything about daddy and rings. They see the sacrifice, they see what hard work looks like, they see what chasing your dream looks like, they see what falling on your face looks like, but now they have these moments of being able to see true joy.”
Ryan mostly wore a private look of anguish during his two losing seasons (2020-21) with the Giants.
“Similar to the 49ers, the Giants organization is a class act. Smart, passionate fans who deserve a winner,” Ryan said. “The talent was there. We didn’t always perform.”
Ryan was a co-captain and one of the defense’s top players — 211 tackles, 17 passes defended and five forced fumbles — before his surprise release during the transition from head coaches Joe Judge to Brian Daboll.
“In New York, I realized how much losing sucks,” he said. “It consumed me. I enjoyed playing there, but I put a lot of weight on my shoulders. I thought I could play better, our defense can still be better. Obviously, it’s a team. I just thought that was my job as a leader — to take it on the chin. That’s what I did time and time and time again. If we would’ve won, it would’ve all been worth it. I have no regrets about that.”
Ryan spent last season with the Buccaneers — the perfect at-home bridge to retirement.
He was more present in his two companies — the Ryan Animal Rescue Foundation and Ryan’s Alternative Solutions Training for police officers — while staying in shape through boxing and yoga.
The risk of burnout was just in case the perfect opportunity knocked. The 49ers — who lost safety Talanoa Hufanga to season-ending injury — did.
Ryan answered, starting at safety and playing all 67 defensive snaps in the NFC divisional playoffs before showing his trademark versatility by shifting to nickel in a smaller role one week later.
“They had to come find me. I wasn’t trying out for teams. I wasn’t working out. I wasn’t taking a lot of teams’ calls,” Ryan said. “They said they wanted to bring me in as insurance. They are trying to win a Super Bowl, and they said, ‘We can bring in anybody: Practice squad guys, guys on waivers, but you are a guy we liked competing against.’ That meant a lot to me.”
So would another championship that brings his career to a full circle.
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