Early life

Kerrigan was born in Muncie, Indiana. He attended Muncie Central High School, where he played defensive end and tight end for the Muncie Bearcats high school football team. As a senior he was an all-state selection after recording 90 tackles and 19 sacks as a defensive end. As a tight end he had 40 receptions for 789 yards and six touchdowns.

College career

Kerrigan attended Purdue University, where he played for the Purdue Boilermakers football team from 2007 to 2010. As a freshman in 2007, Kerrigan appeared in 12 games recording 18 tackles and a sack. As a sophomore in 2008 he started 11 of 12 games and was an honorable mention All-Big Ten selection after recording 56 tackles, seven sacks and an interception. As a junior in 2009 he was a second team All-American by Rivals.com and a first team All-Big Ten selection. He finished the season with 66 tackles and 12 sacks. Kerrigan was also awarded Purdue's "Pit Bull Award" in 2009, which was given to the player that exemplified and displayed tenacity and tough play.

Kerrigan was a semifinalist for the Rotary Lombardi Award during his senior season.

After forcing two fumbles against the Michigan Wolverines, Kerrigan became the Big Ten's all-time leader in forced fumbles; his total of 14 forced fumbles tied the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) career record. Following his 2010 season, he was a first-team All-Big Ten selection, was honored as the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year and the Big Ten Defensive Lineman of the Year, as well as winning the The Bill Willis Trophy given to the top collegiate defensive lineman, and was recognized as a unanimous first-team All-American.

Professional career

2011 NFL Combine

Pre-draft measurables

Ht	Wt	Arm length	Hand size	40-yd dash	10-yd split	20-yd split	20-ss	3-cone	Vert	Broad	BP	Wonderlic
6 ft 3⅞ in	267 lb	33⅜ in	9½ in	4.71 s	1.61 s	2.72 s	4.39 s	7.18 s	33½ in	10 ft 2 in	31 reps	x

Washington Redskins

2011 season

Kerrigan was selected by the Washington Redskins with the sixteenth overall pick in the 2011 NFL Draft. On July 29, 2011, the Redskins officially signed Kerrigan to a four-year, $8.72 million contract with a $4.842 million signing bonus. Kerrigan was converted from a defensive end to an outside linebacker. He was made the starting left outside linebacker. During his NFL debut on September 11, 2011, Kerrigan tipped up and intercepted an errant pass from New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning, subsequently scoring on a 9-yard scamper into the end zone. On September 29, the NFL named him Defensive Rookie of the Month for September. His rookie season was marked by dominant play. Some speculated Kerrigan would win Defensive Rookie of the Year. At the end of the 2011 season, Kerrigan had started in all 16 games and recorded 63 combined tackles, 7.5 sacks, four forced fumbles, one interception, and one touchdown. On January 16, 2012, Kerrigan along with fellow rookie Roy Helu, were named to the Pro Football Weekly/Pro Football Writers of America all-rookie team.

2012 season

In Week 5 of the 2012 season against the Atlanta Falcons, Kerrigan tipped a pass thrown by Matt Ryan and intercepted it. He then ran the ball 28 yards for a touchdown, similar to what he did to Eli Manning in his first career game as a rookie. In Week 14 against the Baltimore Ravens, he managed to tackle Joe Flacco and tip his pass to Ray Rice enough so London Fletcher could intercept the ball; preventing the Ravens from scoring and allowing the Redskins to tie the score and eventually win in overtime. Kerrigan would have a stellar performance against the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 16, where he sacked Nick Foles twice, and stripped the ball during one of them; the ball was recovered by Richard Crawford.

Kerrigan would have been added to the NFC roster of the 2013 Pro Bowl to replace Aldon Smith had the San Francisco 49ers won the NFC Championship Game to go to Super Bowl XLVII.

2013 season

In Week 3 of the 2013 season, Kerrigan tore his left knee's lateral meniscus. Despite the injury, he started every game and tied his career-high in quarterback sacks and forced fumbles.

With the season over, he underwent arthroscopic surgery to repair the tear on January 2, 2014.

2014 season

On May 2, 2014, the Redskins announced that they would pick up the fifth year option of Kerrigan's rookie contract, which will keep him on roster throughout the 2015 season for $7.038 million. In the Week 2 win against the Jacksonville Jaguars, he recorded four of the ten sacks the team had against quarterback Chad Henne. By the end of the season, Kerrigan had recorded new season career highs of 13.5 sacks and five forced fumbles. With Kerrigan's cumulative total of 38 career sacks at the end of the 2014 season, he became the Redskins' sixth all-time franchise sack leader, two behind fellow starter Brian Orakpo.

2015 season

Kerrigan was named the 78th best player on the 2015 listing of the NFL Top 100. He underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left knee on May 20, 2015. On July 29, Kerrigan signed a five-year, $57.5 million contract extension.

NFL stats

Year	Team	GP	COMB	TOTAL	AST	SACK	FF	FR	FR YDS	INT	IR YDS	AVG IR	LNG	TD	PD
2011	WSH	16	63	41	22	7.5	4	0	0	1	9	9	9	1	4
2012	WSH	16	54	42	12	8.5	2	1	0	1	28	28	28	1	8
2013	WSH	16	66	47	19	8.5	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3
2014	WSH	16	64	51	13	13.5	5	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
2015	WSH	16	42	33	9	9.5	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3
Career		80	289	214	75	47.5	17	2	0	2	37	19	28	2	19

Key

• GP: games played
• COMB: combined tackles
• TOTAL: total tackles
• AST: assisted tackles
• SACK: sacks
• FF: forced fumbles
• FR: fumble recoveries
• FR YDS: fumble return yards
• INT: interceptions
• IR YDS: interception return yards
• AVG IR: average interception return
• LNG: longest interception return
• TD: interceptions returned for touchdown
• PD: passes defensed

Personal life

Kerrigan's father, Brendan, played football at Ball State. His brother, Kyle, was a member of the DePauw University swim team.

Kerrigan is half deaf as he has a severe loss of hearing in his left ear. His hearing loss was discovered when he was 8 and was caused by ear infection.

Kerrigan created a charitable foundation in 2013 to serve children in his community. The mission of Ryan Kerrigan's Blitz for the Better Foundation is to provide opportunities, support and resources to children and families in need in the Greater Washington D.C. area. The primary focus of the Foundation is to provide support to seriously ill, special needs and physically challenged children throughout Greater Washington D.C.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]