Chad Michael Ryland (born October 15, 1999) is an American professional football placekicker for the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Eastern Michigan and Maryland.
| No. 38 – Arizona Cardinals | |||||||||||||||
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| Position: | Placekicker | ||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
| Born: | October 15, 1999 Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U.S. | ||||||||||||||
| Height: | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) | ||||||||||||||
| Weight: | 195 lb (88 kg) | ||||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||||
| High school: | Cedar Crest (Lebanon, Pennsylvania) | ||||||||||||||
| College: | Eastern Michigan (2018–2021) Maryland (2022) | ||||||||||||||
| NFL draft: | 2023 / round: 4 / pick: 112 | ||||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||||
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| Roster status: | Active | ||||||||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics as of Week 8, 2024 | |||||||||||||||
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Early life
editRyland was born in Lebanon, Pennsylvania.[1] He attended Cedar Crest High School but initially only played soccer and baseball.[2] He was convinced to tryout for the football team as a junior by his father.[3] He made the team and in both years was named an all-league and all-county selection at placekicker.[4] To train, he and his father often snuck onto the school's athletic field after it was closed, and when they sometimes were told to leave, they briefly left, but then returned and Ryland continued practicing.[3] He was ranked a five-star kicker and the 24th-best nationally at the position by Kohl's kicking camps.[4]
College career
editRyland was a walk-on at Eastern Michigan, and won the starting job as a true freshman.[2] In his second game, he made the most memorable kick of his career: a game-winning 24-yard field goal as time expired to upset heavy favorite Purdue 20–19.[3][5] Although he had a good performance to start the year, his play declined over the course of the season, and he finished having made only 12-of-20 field goal attempts, although Ryland did successfully convert all 41 PATs.[3][6]
As a sophomore at Eastern Michigan in 2019, Ryland appeared in all 13 games and made 35 PATs, additionally making 14-of-19 field goal tries.[7] Against Illinois, he converted a 24-yard game-winning field goal attempt in the final seconds.[8] He was a second-team all-conference choice after the COVID-19-shortened 2020 season, in which he ranked top-20 nationally with a field goal percentage of 84.6, converting 11-of-13 attempts.[9] The following year, Ryland set a team record with 104 points in a season after making 19-of-22 field goals and all 47 of his attempted PATs.[7][10]
Ryland transferred to Maryland in 2022, finishing his stint at Eastern Michigan as their all-time leading scorer with 309 points.[10] In his only season at Maryland, he appeared in every game and was named second-team all-conference after converting 19-of-23 field goal attempts, including being 3-for-6 on attempts of over 50 yards.[6][11][12]
Professional career
edit| Height | Weight | Arm length | Hand span | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 ft 11+3⁄4 in (1.82 m) |
190 lb (86 kg) |
30+1⁄8 in (0.77 m) |
9+3⁄8 in (0.24 m) | |||||||||
| All values from the NFL Combine[13][14] | ||||||||||||
New England Patriots
editRyland was drafted by the New England Patriots in the fourth round (112th overall) of the 2023 NFL draft.[15]
In Week 16 on Christmas Eve night, although having missed an earlier field goal attempt and a point after attempt against the Denver Broncos, Ryland made a 56 yard field goal with two seconds on the clock for a 26–23 win.[16]
In total, Ryland made 16 of 25 field goal attempts (64%) and 24 of 25 extra point attempts (96%) in the 2023 NFL season;[17] his field goal percentage was the lowest in the league among qualified kickers.
On August 27, 2024, Ryland was waived by the Patriots as part of the final roster cuts after losing the kicking job to Joey Slye.[18]
Arizona Cardinals
editRyland was signed to the Arizona Cardinals practice squad on October 2, 2024.[19] On October 15, he was signed to the active roster following an injury to Matt Prater.[20] He was named NFC special teams player of the month in October after kicking 3 game-winning field goals and going 8-9 overall.[21]
References
edit- ^ "Chad Ryland". ESPN.
- ^ a b Gross, Mike (November 12, 2022). "Terps' Ryland grew to love kicking". LNP. p. B1, B3 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b c d Oshtry, Sam (November 1, 2022). "Chad Ryland's quest for perfection finds a home in College Park". Testudo Times.
- ^ a b "Chad Ryland shares experience as freshman walk-on kicker for EMU". LebTown.com. April 5, 2019.
- ^ Johnson, Jim (September 9, 2018). "Boilers fall in final seconds". The Times. Associated Press. p. C9 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b "NFL Draft Profile: Chad Ryland, Kicker, Maryland Terrapins". Sports Illustrated. November 17, 2022.
- ^ a b "Chad Ryland College Stats". Sports-Reference.com.
- ^ Ryan, Shannon (2019). "'Embarrassing' — 3-0 start slips away on last-second FG". Chicago Tribune.
- ^ Arsenault, Bill (February 19, 2021). "Ryland getting a kick out of Eastern Michigan". Lebanon Daily News.
- ^ a b McFadden, Ryan (February 2, 2022). "Maryland football signs 4-star QB Cameron Edge, kicker Chad Ryland during National Signing Day". Yahoo!.
- ^ Williams, Eric (April 11, 2023). "Niners add pass-rush depth, explosive RB, QB steal in seven-round mock draft". Fox News.
- ^ Calderon, Shaun (March 30, 2023). "Titans special teams coaches were in attendance at Maryland pro day". USA Today.
- ^ "Chad Ryland Draft and Combine Prospect Profile". NFL.com. Retrieved April 29, 2023.
- ^ "2023 NFL Draft Scout Chad Ryland College Football Profile". DraftScout.com. Retrieved April 29, 2023.
- ^ Buchmasser, Bernd (April 29, 2023). "Patriots draft Maryland K Chad Ryland after trading up to the 112th overall pick". Pats Pulpit. SB Nation. Retrieved July 28, 2024.
- ^ Dubin, Jared (December 25, 2023). "Patriots vs. Broncos score, takeaways: New England spoils Denver's frantic comeback with late field goal". CBSSports.com. Retrieved July 28, 2024.
- ^ "Chad Ryland 2023 Game Log". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved July 28, 2024.
- ^ "Patriots Make Roster Moves to Reach the 53-Man Roster Limit". Patriots.com. August 27, 2024.
- ^ "Chad Ryland: Joins Cardinals' practice squad". CBS Sports. Retrieved October 3, 2024.
- ^ "Cardinals' Chad Ryland: Replaces injured Prater on roster". CBS Sports. Retrieved October 16, 2024.
- ^ "Chad Ryland Heroics Earn NFC Player Of Month Honor". www.azcardinals.com. Retrieved November 1, 2024.
External links
edit- Career statistics from ESPN
- Maryland Terrapins bio