As the assistant principal at Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn, N.Y., Renee Silberstein’s litany of responsibilities included working closely with the guidance department to make sure athletes maintained their eligibility and stayed on track to compete in college.
The earliest scouting report she received on ninth grader Sean Ryan made it clear that he faced some significant hurdles. Advertisement “Great kid. Great hands that can catch anything anywhere.
It will be a challenge for him to graduate,” Silberstein recalled the report saying. Years later, Silberstein can recite those words from memory. They’re a constant reminder of just how far Ryan has come and how love, support and resources can change the outlook for a young man who otherwise wouldn’t have stood a chance.
Ryan is a second-year receiver for the Baltimore Ravens . After signing as an undrafted free agent last year and spending the season on the team’s practice squad, he’s attempting to make the Ravens’ 53-man roster , which will be set by Tuesday afternoon. He’s viewed as a long shot, but the 25-year-old has been described as such before.
That was the case when he was growing up in New York City and surrounded by tragedy and tumult. Yet, he persevered through personal and academic challenges to graduate from high school and earn a college scholarship. Determined to get to the NFL , he played at three different colleges and was so homesick during one stop that he stayed in his room some nights and cried.
Yet, he stuck with it, graduated and put himself on the NFL’s radar. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Sean Ryan (@10_tastic) Struggling with his confidence and the feeling that he didn’t quite belong in the NFL last summer, Ryan talked just about every day for hours with fellow Ravens rookie receiver Zay Flowers . Yet, he played well enough for Baltimore to keep him around last season and give him a chance to make the roster this year.
“He’s a courageous person,” Silberstein said. “He’s very determined, but he also has gone through a lot. When you go through a lot in life, it definitely requires that you strengthen certain muscles, not just mentally but physically.
He’s done a lot of work to get where he is.” Ryan is the first to say he’s had a lot of help, too. At different points this summer, both at practices and the preseason games, he’s been able to peer into the stands and spot different members of his support system.
Silberstein and her husband, Michael Greenbaum, officially adopted Ryan into their family in July 2023. Ryan’s biological parents also remain active in his life. Advertisement “Everyone has given a lot,” Ryan said.
“Everyone played a huge part in my success, whether it was buying me football cleats or paying for a football camp or sitting down and talking to me for hours about a mistake that I made. It was definitely a village. It took a whole community, and there’s a lot of people that I extend thank yous to.
” In June, Ryan launched his Community of Cares Initiative by taking part in the donation of a new A1 Computer Resource Lab at the Greenmount Recreation Center in Baltimore. The project was designed and funded by Intel and NWN Carousel, an IT service provider company for which Greenbaum works. Ryan had told Greenbaum if he made it to the NFL, he wanted to start a foundation that helped empower youth.
When the two had more expansive discussions about what that would entail, Ryan said he wanted the initiative to begin in Baltimore, where he got his start in the league. NWN Carousel had recently redesigned Baltimore’s 911 system to help integrate artificial intelligence and help officials respond better and more efficiently, so it already had extensive relationships in the city. “Sean has the most incredible heart and he’s always wanted to do something to give back,” Greenbaum said.
“We were speaking to Intel and we said, ‘We’d like to tell you a story.’ Intel was so in. It’s an incredible story of triumph and perseverance.
” Pick up The Athletic 2024 Fantasy Football Guide to read expert evaluations & everything you need to know to win your fantasy football league. Pick up The Athletic 2024 Fantasy Football Guide to read expert evaluations. Greenbaum and Silberstein have three biological kids, a 23-year-old son and twin 16-year-old daughters.
As part of their Jewish faith, they practice Hakarat Hatov, which means “recognizing the good” and encourages you to be grateful for your blessings and look for opportunities to share goodness with others. When Silberstein met Ryan as a 10th grader, she had already heard about some of the challenges and negative influences he faced outside school. But he was a genuine and kind kid, a “beautiful soul,” Silberstein said.
He just needed help and guidance. Advertisement “Everyone has a different way of parenting. Everyone has a different approach,” Silberstein said.
“But we’ve always looked at Sean like this is our child. We’re going to do everything we can to give our child every opportunity that’s available.” “We did this for him, to give him a stable support base that he can draw on and be a part of,” Greenbaum said.
“If you look at players in the NFL, or any player in sports, the players that have a stable support base or a supporting family are the most successful.” Ryan’s biological father, Sean Ryan Sr., came to the United States from Jamaica.
His mother, Tameekah Douglas, is from Trinidad and Tobago. They cared immensely for Ryan and his brothers and sisters, but they had a hard time providing for their children when “they were just trying to survive,” Ryan said. Greenbaum and Silberstein helped Ryan when he needed clothing and supplies.
Silberstein established an academic plan for Ryan while also making sure he was getting the proper nutrition and reaching his potential athletically. When some potential college suitors backed off because of concerns about Ryan’s speed, Silberstein made a connection with Ed Lovelace, a well-regarded speed trainer. The results followed.
Then, there were times when Ryan just needed a hug, a reminder that everything was going to be OK. Greenbaum and Silberstein were available for that, too. He was around “a lot of unhealthy behavior and dysfunction,” Silberstein said.
Ryan doesn’t say a whole lot about some of the tragedies and pitfalls he’s experienced, referring to them in general terms as the “harsh realities of life.” But he doesn’t deny that they were omnipresent, and he met Greenbaum and Silberstein at a very important time in his life. “What started as a mentorship became parental,” he said.
“They started raising me, teaching me principles about different things of life and teaching me proper etiquette. They’ve always been there and their support system for me helped me get to this level. It was my representation when I didn’t have the proper representation.
” To Ryan, football wasn’t an escape from his daily struggles or an outlet for his frustration. He initially detested the physicality of the game. But he was always one of the tallest kids at his age and had a knack for jumping the highest.
In his neighborhood where basketball is king — there wasn’t a strong football culture — Ryan’s earliest football memories were on the blacktop. He and his friends played games called “Kill the Man,” where everybody would go after whoever had the football; and “Hail Mary,” where he and his friends would line up on one end of the block, throw the ball as far and as high as they could and go catch it. Advertisement His early introduction to organized football came courtesy of his biological father, who started a youth football program in his neighborhood called the Brooklyn Bombers so his son and friends would have a chance to play together.
The program helped provide purpose and discipline for the kids and taught them fundamental football skills. “My dad, he had a vision,” Ryan said. “It gave us a bond.
It elevated and helped the community, helped everybody find their roles. It saved my life, to be honest with you.” Ryan’s high school, Erasmus Hall, located on Flatbush Ave.
in Brooklyn, was once the home of future entertainers Barbra Streisand and Neil Diamond, chess champion Bobby Fischer, boxing promoter Bob Arum and late Raiders owner Al Davis. It also has a strong football tradition. Seven players from Ryan’s graduating class got a scholarship from a Division I school, an unprecedented number at the time for a New York City football program.
Ryan, who was named the top receiver in his conference, didn’t generate the recruiting buzz that some of his teammates garnered. He accepted a scholarship to Temple and played in 11 games as a freshman, but it wasn’t long before the business of college football intervened. Geoff Collins, the coach whose staff recruited Ryan, left after his freshman season to take a job at Georgia Tech.
Manny Diaz was hired to replace him, but he returned to the University of Miami after less than a month. Ryan also moved on, transferring to West Virginia. In three seasons in Morgantown, before he spent his final year of college availability at Rutgers, Ryan started 22 games and caught 69 passes, got his degree, celebrated Senior Day and learned to adapt to a suburban city that felt like a different world compared to his Brooklyn home.
“I cried some nights. I didn’t tell too many people that,” Ryan said. “I’m a city kid and that was a really different environment.
But they love football out there and the support of the fans was amazing. Being so far from home and knowing that my family couldn’t get out there as urgently as I needed them to, it kind of forced me to get closer to my teammates, get closer to my coaches. I was a young player and I didn’t understand some things.
It definitely helped my career. You have to learn to adjust. You learn to get comfortable being uncomfortable.
” That feeling carried over to Baltimore, where the Ravens saw Ryan at the East-West Shrine Bowl and ultimately offered him a rookie contract after the draft. Ryan opened some eyes by having a strong training camp as a rookie, but that didn’t stop him from constantly questioning himself. Advertisement He often confided in Flowers, one of the only other rookie receivers on Baltimore’s roster last season.
The two lived together at Flowers’ place for part of training camp last year and Flowers became a mentor to Ryan, even though he was younger than him. With his bed not yet delivered, Flowers and Ryan slept on different parts of the couch, crashing after long, stressful days of practices and meetings. GO DEEPER Zay Flowers wants to be great for Ravens, who need it from the wide receiver “Me and Sean connected in a different way,” Flowers said.
“I sat in the car with him and we just talked. I talked about my life. He talked about his.
We talked about all of the bad stuff that went on in his life, all of the bad stuff that went on in my life. I know his whole family and now he knows my whole family. We used that time to connect and I just told him, ‘Bro, it ain’t as hard as you think it is.
You just have to push yourself.’ “Everywhere I went, I brought him with me. We trained together.
We lifted together. He slept at my house. I didn’t have a car, so he used to drive me back and forth.
I saw that he had it. I was trying to find ways to bring it out of him.” Ryan spent considerable time this past offseason in South Florida, working out with Flowers and veteran receiver Nelson Agholor , and catching balls from quarterback Lamar Jackson .
As he returned to Baltimore this summer, wide receivers coach Greg Lewis noticed a difference in his demeanor. “A change from a growth standpoint, maturing on and off the field, understanding that this is a business, this is a job. He takes it seriously and he takes it to heart,” Lewis said.
“That’s what you need to continue to make it in this league.” Ryan frequently tells Greenbaum and Silberstein that he could never adequately pay them back for everything they’ve done for him, all the doors they’ve opened. Silberstein reminds Ryan that they want and expect nothing beyond a continuation of the connection that they share.
“My (biological) parents are still in my life. They did an amazing job of raising me, but obviously (Greenbaum and Silberstein) created a blueprint and a plan for me,” Ryan said. “The first thing they said to me was, ‘We don’t want anything back for you.
We’re not doing this for no story. This is not ‘The Blind Side.’ We just want to help.
’” Advertisement For a good while, Ryan thought of going through the official adoption process with Greenbaum and Silberstein. He already called them Mom and Dad. He considered their three kids his brother and sisters.
It came up in conversation with them, and Ryan said he’d like to make it official. “We’re a real-deal family,” Ryan said. “It was important to me.
The least I could do is call them Mom and Dad for the things that they sacrificed for me.” Ryan sat down with his biological parents and said they supported the decision, too. They saw Greenbaum and Silberman as Ryan’s second parents.
Greenbaum and Silberman have been a resource for them as well. “We love Sean very much and he’s a blessing in our family and in our hearts,” Silberman said. “But it’s also interesting — and I‘ve spoken with Sean about this — you can’t choose your children.
They just come to you and that’s it. In a way, it makes the relationship a little more unique. We chose each other.
It’s something we decided.” Free, daily NFL updates direct to your inbox. document.
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forEach((el) => { el.setAttribute("style", "pointer-events: none;");}) Free, daily NFL updates direct to your inbox. After a recent Ravens practice, Ryan stood in the hallway outside the locker room.
Coach John Harbaugh gave him a fist bump as he walked by. Tight end Isaiah Likely playfully interrupted a reporter to talk about what a good person Ryan was. Ryan was asked about what he hopes people learn from his journey to the NFL.
He paused, admitting it was the first time he’d ever been asked that. “But I’ve been thinking about that question for a while,” Ryan said. “I’ve been able to make it just with love and respect.
I know I may not have been able to do everything perfectly. I may not be able to reach everybody. But I know the souls that I do touch, the few people I do connect with.
I just want them to know that anything is possible through faith and hard work. I always believed in myself, and once I got a support system that believed in me, that was all I needed.” (Top photo of Sean Ryan and his adopted parents: Courtesy / Michael Greenbaum).
