Tom Brady Reunites With Logan Ryan, Who Unofficially Ended QB's Career With Patriots
BOSTON (CBS) -- Logan Ryan's unemployment didn't last very long, as the veteran cornerback agreed to a one-year deal with the Buccaneers less than a day after getting released by the Giants.
In Tampa Bay, Ryan will be reunited with former teammate Tom Brady, who played against the cornerback on the practice field from 2013-16. Ryan left for the Titans in free agency in 2017, and it was during his tenure with the Titans that he made a mark on New England football history by unofficially ending Brady's Patriots career.
In a Wild Card round playoff meeting between the Patriots and Titans in Foxboro, Brady and the offense took the field trailing by one point with 15 seconds left. Instead of a miraculous game-winning drive, though, Brady was picked off by Ryan, who returned it for a touchdown.
LOGAN RYAN WITH THE REVENGE PICK SIX ???? @RealLoganRyan
— The Checkdown (@thecheckdown) January 5, 2020
(via @NFL)pic.twitter.com/qvoZ5dfEeF
It was Brady's final pass and final snap as a New England Patriot, as he left as a free agent two months later to join the Bucs.
While Brady is obviously a ferocious competitor, he nevertheless reached out to Ryan after that game to congratulate him.
"Tom reached out to me after the game on Instagram," Ryan said in 2020. "He DM'd me and said 'congrats.' He's happy for me. He hated that it had to happen to him. Why couldn't I drop both of them? Why did I have to catch one? We've got a great relationship. Julian [Edelman] reached out to me as well. It's all love in the game. He's a great competitor and he respects me for my play. But that's just something I had to do to help us win. Trust me, that ball is on the mantel. My kids play with a lot of my interception balls, they're just kind of laying around -- I practice with them. But that one they can't touch. That one's up on the mantel."
Ryan's Titans career also ended after that season, as he's spent the last two seasons with the New York Giants. He's intercepted just one pass over the past two seasons while recording 17 pass defenses, two sacks, and 211 total tackles. Now, he'll be getting back to work with Brady, with whom he's forever entwined in a significant -- if disappointing -- moment in Patriots history.