[4] He recovered the onside kick to secure the Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) championship as a junior.

[5] Ryan had offers from Ball State, Toledo and a number of other Mid-American Conference, but he grew 2 inches (5.08 cm) and 20 pounds (9.1 kg) prior to his senior year.

[7] As a redshirt freshman, he started in the September 3 opener for the 2011 team against Western Michigan as a result of a back injury to Cam Gordon.

[9] On September 24, 2011, against new head coach Brady Hoke's former team, San Diego State, Ryan had two fumble recoveries.

[18] On October 13, Ryan was selected as Big Ten Defensive player of the week when he posted a career-high 11 tackles (3.5 for a loss and 1.5 sacks).

[22][23] When Ryan was initially injured in the spring, there was no official diagnosis of his expected return to football, but ACL injuries typically require a year to fully heal.

[52] At the conclusion of the pre-draft process, Ryan was projected to be a fourth or fifth round pick by NFL draft experts and scouts.

[59][60] Throughout training camp, Ryan competed for a job as a starting inside linebacker after they were left vacant after the release of A. J. Hawk and Brad Jones.

[61] He competed against Clay Matthews III, Sam Barrington, Nate Palmer, Joe Thomas, and Carl Bradford.

[62][63] Head coach Mike McCarthy named Ryan the fourth inside linebacker on the depth chart behind Clay Matthews, Sam Barrington, and Nate Palmer to begin the regular season.

[64] He made his professional regular season debut in the Packers' season-opener at the Chicago Bears and recorded one solo tackle during their 31–23 victory.

[66] In Week 3, Ryan recorded a solo tackle on special teams as the Packers defeated the Kansas City Chiefs 38–28.

[70] During open practices and organized team activities, Ryan and rookie Blake Martinez impressed coaches by developing a rapport and chemistry while they both received first-team at inside linebacker.

They were dubbed by "Jake and Blake" by fans, a play on "Shake and Bake", a catchphrase of popularized by the film Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.

[73] He started the Packers' season-opener at the Jacksonville Jaguars and made seven combined tackles and his first career pass deflection during their 27–23 victory.

In Week 9, Ryan recorded a season-high 12 combined tackles and broke up a pass as the Packers lost to the Indianapolis Colts 31–26.

[74][75] Ryan finished the 2016 season with a career-high 82 combined tackles (57 solo) and three pass deflections in 14 games and ten starts.

On January 8, 2017, Ryan recorded 12 combined tackles and a career-high three pass break ups in the Packers' 38–13 win against the New York Giants in the NFC Wildcard game.

[77] December 3, 2017, Ryan recorded ten combined tackles and made his first career sack on Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston during a 26–20 victory.

[89] Ryan comes from a family of football players: older brother Connor (wide receiver)[90] and younger brother Zack (linebacker)[91] played for Ball State; father, Tim, was a wide receiver at Wake Forest (1980–84); maternal grandfather, Francis E. Sweeney, an Ohio Supreme Court justice, played defensive tackle for Xavier as well as in the Canadian Football League.