Sean Ryan was hired as Carolina's quarterbacks coach in January of 2021 after two seasons in Detroit (2019-20) and his final two seasons in Houston (2016-18) in the same role. He also spent nine seasons (2007-15) in a variety of roles with the New York Giants.
In 2020, the Lions passed for 4,397 yards as a team, ranking eighth in the NFL. Quarterback Matthew Stafford started all 16 games despite battling injuries through the end of the season. Stafford finished with his eighth career 4,000-yard passing season, tied for fifth-most since 2009. The year prior, Stafford ranked sixth in the NFL in passer rating (106.0) despite only appearing in eight games. Before being sidelined with injury, Stafford led the NFL in passing yards (2,499) and passing touchdowns (19).
In his three seasons in Houston, Ryan started with the wide receivers before becoming quarterbacks coach in 2017 where he worked with Deshaun Watson. As a rookie, Watson set an NFL record for passing touchdowns (19) through a player's first seven career games before getting injured. The following season, Watson ranked sixth in the NFL with a passer rating of 103.1, throwing 26 touchdowns to nine interceptions.
Prior to joining the Texans, Ryan spent nine seasons (2007-15) with the New York Giants, where he helped them to victories in Super Bowl XLII (2007) and Super Bowl XLVI (2011). In New York, he started in an offensive quality control role (2007-09), before stints of working with the wide receivers (2010-11, 2014-15) and quarterbacks (2012-13), working alongside Panthers head coach Matt Rhule in 2012.
Ryan's receiver corps was headlined by Odell Beckham, Jr., who became the first Giants player to win the AP Offensive Rookie of the Year award in 2014. In 2015, Beckham was named to the Pro Bowl for the second-straight year after tying a franchise single-season record with 13 receiving touchdowns.
Ryan came from the college ranks where he worked working as the recruiting coordinator, running backs coach and junior varsity head coach at Harvard University in 2006. His previous coaching stops at the college level included assistant coach positions at Albany (1998-99), Colgate (2000), Boston College (2001-02) and Columbia (2003-05). Ryan began his coaching career as the quarterbacks coach at Siena College in 1997.
A native of Hudson Falls, N.Y., Ryan played defensive back and linebacker at Hamilton College. He graduated from Hamilton in 1994 before earning a master's degree in higher education administration from Albany. Ryan and his wife, Jenni, have one daughter, Cecilia.
