With rookie safety Ji'Ayir Brown ruled out of the 49ers' Week 17 game against the Washington Commanders on Sunday, veteran Logan Ryan is on track to make his first start in the red and gold.
Ryan's ability to seamlessly slot into San Francisco's secondary is exactly why coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch decided to sign him in early December after injuries to Talanoa Hufanga and George Odom. Now that Brown is sidelined with a sprained knee, Ryan is the next man up for safety.
“I'm really happy to have him now,” Shanahan told Greg Papa.49ers game plan“Ring.” “I didn’t know [Ryan]But I played against him a lot and I always had a lot of respect when I played against him. I thought he was a really good player.
“[He] “He always looked like one of the smarter players on the field.”
Once Hufanga and Odom were injured, the 49ers knew that Brown, despite his youth, was ready to fill the position. But with little experience at safety on the roster after that, Shanahan said the team targeted Ryan immediately. The safety happened to be on a cruise with his family when the 49ers called him, and now, just a few weeks later, he'll have a chance to make a positive impact for San Francisco on Sunday at FedExField.
“You're always one injury away from a guy who's not ready to be in some real impact games and play a starting position,” Shanahan told Pope. “And you can do it with some beginners and stuff, but it gets harder and harder, and you always hope there's a guy with experience who can do it.”
During an interview with KNBR on Friday, before Brown was officially ruled out of Sunday's game, Lynch explained why he feels confident in Ryan's ability to step into a larger role.
“It's nice to have a guy with a lot of versatility to his name,” Lynch told KNBR. “…It's nice that if Ji'Ayir can't go, you can turn to a guy like Logan Ryan and feel very comfortable with what you have there.”
Shanahan told reporters on Friday that Brown has a “chance” to return for the 49ers' final regular-season game against the Los Angeles Rams at Levi's Stadium next weekend. But in the meantime, he knows Ryan is more than capable of filling the position.
“Just when we played him, he always looked like he was a conscious, intelligent player and a guy who had a lot of experience playing in a lot of different defences,” Shanahan told reporters. “We brought him in when we had some injuries. He's looked good since he's been here, as we hoped he would be. Now that we've had those injuries, he's in that role.”
“He looked exactly like we hoped he would. He's very comfortable and knows what he's doing, and the game isn't too big for him.”
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