From The Insiders on @NFLNetwork: #Saints OT Ryan Ramczyk is out for the season. pic.twitter.com/fZVU6CXJ5J
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) July 19, 2024
We received the clearest indication yet that Ryan Ramczyk has already played his last down of pro football on Thursday. The New Orleans Saints placed their former All-Pro right tackle on the reserve/physically unable to perform (PUP) list, which carries an important distinction from the active/PUP list other players were designated to.
As observed by NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport, Ramczyk is a vested veteran (someone who has earned earned three or more credited seasons), and those vested veterans who have been placed on the reserve/PUP list before roster cuts on Aug. 27 are ineligible to play this season. His year is over.
“But his career for sure could be over now,” Rapoport said on NFL Network. “He is out for the season. He’s dealing with a knee issue and he of course has had some injury concerns over the years. But dealing with a knee issue now, they thought it was going to get better, they thought it was going to turn the corner, it just did not improve like the Saints and like Ramczyk had hoped.”
It’s possible that Ramczyk could bounce back after taking a year off, but he’s struggled to manage a degenerative knee condition and that’s unlikely to improve with time. At this point all he can realistically do is shed weight like many offensive linemen do after their playing careers are over, and formally file his retirement papers once the Saints are in a position to absorb it on the salary cap.
If this is it for Ramczyk, it’s a career he can be proud of. He only played a single season of Division I football in college before turning pro, having started at left tackle for Wisconsin after trying his hand at welding school, only to unexpectedly take over for an injured Zach Strief at right tackle during his first game as a rookie. Ramczyk immediately established himself as a top-five right tackle in the league and won three All-Pro nods in his seven-year career, starting every game he played. Few players retire without regrets, but Ramczyk got much closer than most. We’ll wish him well for whatever’s next.
