BEREA — Carsen Ryan wasn’t among those who received an invitation to the NFL combine in late February. Not being among the 330 to be asked to attend didn’t go unnoticed by the former BYU tight end.
“Oh yeah, for sure, I felt like I deserved to be there, and I feel like the season I put out this last year was definitely worthy of that,” Ryan said after the first day of Browns rookie minicamp. “I kind of felt like I was overlooked a little bit for this kind of postseason, pre-draft stuff. But it was good. It just added more fuel to my pro-day prep, and the bowl games I did get invited to, I just got to take advantage of what I get. It’s something I always, one of my former coaches told us, he always said, ‘Don’t count the reps, make the raps count.’ And that kind of goes for everything, invites and stuff, what you got, you got to make it count, you got to make the most of it.”
Ryan may not have been one of the 330 to get a combine invite, but he was part of an even-smaller group two months later. He was one of the 257 players who heard their name called during the NFL draft at the end of April.
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Even that call was one Ryan had to wait for a while to receive. It finally arrived at pick No. 248 overall when the Browns selected him as the 10th and final member of their 2026 draft class.
It was a call that he hoped would finally happen. It just wasn’t the team he expected to hear it from.
“I didn’t, honestly,” Ryan said. “I didn’t have a ton of pre-draft communication with them and stuff, just pretty basic stuff. They weren’t one of the teams I was looking to pick me, but it was a great surprise and I’m really happy to be here.”
The call made it worth the wait. Ryan didn’t delude himself into thinking it would be coming on one of the first two days of the draft considering he didn’t get the combine invite.
Now, two weeks later, Ryan was on the field for the first day of rookie minicamp, absorbing the moment.
“So much fun,” Ryan said. “It’s great to be playing football again. It’s been a few months and playing in the NFL, sitting out there doing the stretch and stuff. I just kind of had a chance to take it all in and just be like, “Cleveland Browns” is over there on the fence. It’s just such a special feeling.”
Ryan’s journey to the NFL took him through multiple high schools in Utah. He also played at three different colleges: UCLA, Utah and BYU.
Landing with the Browns, in many ways, was like pulling from multiple steps along that path. Ryan can point to someone with his new NFL team who’s from one of those stops.
“I was at UCLA with Carson Schwesinger,” Ryan said. “My old roommate back at UCLA, TJ Harden, he’s here. A couple of high school teammates. Braxton Feeley, both the Fano brothers, all the same high school. I’ve got a lot of buddies here, which is nice.”
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Ryan knows he’s not in Berea to have some kind of high school reunion. It’s to play football and, hopefully, become an important piece of coach Todd Monken’s offense.
Speaking of Monken, he’s another one from Ryan’s past, having recruited him in high school while he was Georgia’s offensive coordinator. Now, he’s a coach who has big ideas for the multiple roles for the seventh-round pick, including fullback as well as H-back and a variety of other positions in the formation.
“I have a little bit of connection with him,” Ryan said of Monken. “So I’ve known about him for a long time, type of offense he runs. And so when I saw I was coming here and be a part of what they do, I think it’s going to be a really good opportunity for me and I feel like I fit really well into his system and how he uses the fullback and tight ends. So it’s really good.”
Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on X at @ceasterlingABJ. Sign up for Browns Insider newsletter at https://profile.beaconjournal.com/newsletters/browns-insider/
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Carsen Ryan felt ‘overlooked’ before Browns drafted him in 7th round
Reporting by Chris Easterling, Akron Beacon Journal / Akron Beacon Journal
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