Pat Ryan (American football)

Patrick Lee Ryan (born September 16, 1955) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback for 14 seasons in the National Football League (NFL) for the New York Jets and the Philadelphia Eagles. He played college football for the Tennessee Volunteers and was selected by the Jets in the 11th round of the 1978 NFL draft. After his playing career, he became a color analyst on the Vol Radio Network, broadcasting games for his alma mater.

Biography
Ryan was born in Hutchinson, Kansas and attended Putnam City High School in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He played college football at the University of Tennessee.

Ryan was selected in the 11th round of the 1978 NFL draft by the New York Jets. He played professionally for thirteen seasons, twelve seasons with the New York Jets and one season with the Philadelphia Eagles.

Ryan was primarily a backup, seeing just fifteen snaps in his first four years. His one significant season was in 1984, when he started eleven games for the Jets. He went 6–5 while throwing fourteen touchdowns and fourteen interceptions for 1,939 yards. During the 1986-87 NFL playoffs, Ryan was the starting quarterback for the Jets against the Kansas City Chiefs in the wild-card round. Throwing three touchdown passes in the game, the Jets won 35–15 for their first playoff win in four years. The following week during the divisional round against the Cleveland Browns, Ryan threw a 42-yard touchdown on a flea-flicker to give the Jets a 7–0 1st quarter lead. However, he suffered an injury that knocked him out in the second quarter (leading to the return of Ken O'Brien, who had started the regular season as quarterback), and the Jets would ultimately lose it 23–20 in double overtime, the third longest playoff game in NFL history at that time.

After being cut by the Browns in the summer before the 1990 season, Ryan was working as a general contractor. The Philadelphia Eagles asked him to come out of retirement as starter Randall Cunningham and backup Jim McMahon were injured. He signed with the team in September 1991 and was deployed in their Monday Night Football matchup versus the Washington Redskins at 36 years old. He completed four passes, threw three interceptions, and was sacked twice in a 23–0 loss. Ryan was waived in favor of former Seattle backup Jeff Kemp that October.

Life after the NFL
Ryan was employed as a color analyst on Tennessee Titans radio broadcasts from 1999 to 2004. He is now a home builder in Knoxville, Tennessee. He later worked as a football analyst for the University of Tennessee's Vol Radio Network, cohosting the weekly "Big Orange Hotline," and joining Bob Kesling, Tim Priest, and John Wilkerson on the "Kickoff Call-In Show" prior to UT football games. In June 2021, Ryan became the color analyst for Tennessee Volunteers football following the announcement that Tim Priest would be retiring.