Seth Ryan enters his fifth season with the Lions, and first as the assistant tight ends coach, in 2025. He spent his first four seasons with the club as the team's assistant wide receivers coach (2021-24).
Assisting the wide receivers in 2024, Ryan helped WR Amon-Ra St. Brown earn his second-straight First-Team AP All-Pro honor, becoming the third wide receiver in franchise history to earn multiple First-Team AP All-Bro selections. St. Brown finished second in the NFL in receptions (115), was second in receiving first downs (72), ranked third in receiving touchdowns (12) and logged the fifth-most receiving yards (1,263) in 2024. Ryan also helped WR Jameson Williams to career highs in receptions (58), receiving yards (1,001) and receiving touchdowns (seven). Together, St. Brown and Williams became the second duo in franchise history to each log at least 1,000 receiving yards and seven receiving touchdowns in the same season.
With Ryan's guidance, the Lions' receiving corps ranked tied-for-first in fewest dropped passes (four), fourth in receiving touchdowns (24), fourth in receiving yards after the catch (1,184) and tied-for-fifth in receiving yards (2,909).
Under Ryan's watch in 2023, St. Brown put together a memorable season as he became just the third Lions wide receiver since the 1970 AFL/NFL merger to be named First-Team AP All-Pro. Among all NFL players in 2023, St. Brown ranked first in 100-yard receiving games (nine), tied-for-second in receptions (119), third in receiving yards (1,515) and tied-for-fourth in receiving touchdowns (10). St. Brown also ranked first in the NFL in receiving yards after the catch (677) and was third in receiving first downs (75).
In 2022, Ryan helped the Lions' wide receivers finish top 10 in the NFL in receptions (383), receiving yards (4,444), receiving first downs (228), receiving touchdowns (29), receptions of over 25 yards (35) and receiving yards after catch (2,217). He also helped St. Brown earn a Pro Bowl berth as he tied the NFL record for the most receptions (196) within a player's two-career years.
In his first season with Detroit in 2021, Ryan assisted in multiple aspects of the team's special teams, working closely with gunners and the wide receiver corps. He also helped develop St. Brown to have a historic rookie season, where he set Lions rookie records with 90 receptions for 912 yards (10.1 avg.). In only his first NFL season, St. Brown had six-straight games with at least eight receptions, the longest streak in team history and the longest by a rookie in NFL history.
During his stint in L.A., Ryan worked primarily with the team's wide receivers and helped guide WRs Mike Williams and Keenan Allen (three) to 1,000-yard seasons in that span. Allen made the Pro Bowl in all four years working with Ryan and produced a franchise-record 104 receptions in 2019. Allen totaled 403 receptions in that span, the third-most in the NFL, and his 4,780 yards ranked as the sixth-most. He was also one-of-three players to produce three 100-catch seasons in that range.
Ryan was a wide receiver at Clemson from 2013-16 and helped the Tigers win the 2016 College Football Playoff National Championship. The Tigers also won two ACC titles, the Orange Bowl and the Fiesta Bowl over his time there.
The son of former NFL Head Coach Rex Ryan, he is married to his wife, Meg.
