January 6, 2025
With the Jets continuing their Head Coach search a name that has been circulating since the day Robert Saleh was fired was former head coach Rex Ryan, and this is a direction the Jets should not go in at all.
Rex Ryan is expected to be interviewed for the vacancy on Tuesday and before the interview, Ryan truly believes he is the best man for the job.
“100 percent, absolutely I do. And I think I’m going to get it because I’m the best guy and it ain’t close,” said Rex Ryan on the probability of him becoming the next coach in New York.
Rex Ryan started his Jets tenure on a high start when he was hired in 2009, going to back-to-back AFC Championships. But from that point the Rex Ryan era was not strong, missing 3 straight playoffs and getting fired in 2014. Ryan finished his Jets time with a 46-50 regular season record and a 4-2 playoff record.
After getting fired from the Jets, Rex Ryan headed to the Bills, where he was the head coach for two years. He finished with a 15-16 record and was fired after year two. After that, he interviewed for a couple of defensive coordinator jobs but never got them, leading him to go to the ESPN crew, where he has been since.
The truth is, yes, Rex Ryan did succeed in his first 2 years as Jets coach but since that short time, Ryan has been mediocre. After the Bills job, there is a reason no teams interviewed him for a head coaching position and no team has considered him this cycle, that reason is because he is not a good coach. Rex Ryan does bring a good culture but if you are not winning it doesn’t mean anything.
Along with him being a mediocre coach he also never had a strong offense, he was a defensive-minded coach who only cared about defense and in the NFL today you need a good offense to win and he has never coached a good offense.
Having success 15 years ago does not mean he is going to have success this year and beyond.
If the Jets do go this route I hope I am wrong and it does work out but I find it hard to see a scenario where it does work out.