Mike Ryan is a Dig Dowtnown Jax and has been the Jaguars’ original head athletic trainer/physical therapist since June 1, 1994, after serving as assistant athletic trainer/physical therapist for the New York Giants for six seasons starting in April 1988.

This is his 25th season in the NFL and Ryan is one of 10 staff members who joined the franchise in 1994.  In 2003, Ryan and his staff won the prestigious Ed Block Courage Award’s NFL Athletic Training Staff of the Year.

Ryan is President of the Professional Football Athletic Trainers’ Society Research & Education Foundation. Ryan is a member of the National Football League Foot & Ankle Committee.  Mike also serves as Chairman of the NFL Collegiate Athletic Trainers Committee.  Ryan is a member of the Sports Concussion Medical Advisory Board.  He is a member of the Korey Stringer Institute Medical & Science Advisory Board and an advisor and co-author of the National Athletic Trainers Association’s Position Statement on Lightning Safety for Athletics and Recreation. 

Ryan is a successful online sports medicine author and trusted consultant.  Ryan is the founder of MikeRyanFitness.com, an online sports medicine resource for athletes young & old.  Mike enjoys sharing his passion for wellness through his role as an accomplished international speaker on numerous topics related to sports medicine and athletic performance.

Mike has served as a volunteer athletic trainer/physical therapist at the United States Olympic Training Center in the summer of 2008 prior to the Summer Olympics in Beijing, China.

Ryan attended Central Connecticut State University, where he received a bachelor’s degree in athletic training in 1985. He was a scholar-athlete in cross country and a miler in indoor and outdoor track at CCSU. In 2010, Ryan was name the recipient of the Central Connecticut State University Kaiser Alumni Service Award.  He also earned a degree in physical therapy from the University of Connecticut in 1988.  Ryan is the recipient of the 2008 Southeast Athletic Trainers Association’s Professional Athlete Trainer of the Year award and the Athletic Trainers Association of Florida’s 2007 Athlete Trainer of the Year.

An avid fitness enthusiast, Ryan continues to participate in countless challenging races and triathlons.  These competitions  include six Ironman Triathlons in Hawaii (1994), New Zealand (1996), Canary Island (1998), Brazil (2000), Idaho (2004) and Austria (2009), three  Escape from Alcatraz Triathlons, and the 2002 World Championship Duathlon. Other races include the famous Running with the Bulls in Pamplona, Spain, the Run-Up the Empire State Building in New York and the Boston Marathon.  Mike and his wife, Samantha, along with their young son and daughter, live in Ponte Vedra Beach, FL.