Rex Ryan has returned to the New York Jets — for an interview, at least.
The former Jets coach and current ESPN analyst, who led the franchise to its last playoff appearance to cap the 2010 season, met with the team Tuesday about its head coaching vacancy.
Ryan went 50-52, including 4-2 in the playoffs, in six years with the Jets before being fired after the 2014 season. He has lobbied openly for the job during recent TV and radio appearances and said Monday on ESPN New York radio that he’s the perfect candidate and expected to be hired.
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“Oh, 100%, absolutely, I do,” he said. “The reason I think I’m going to get it is because I’m the best guy for it. It ain’t close.”
Ryan is the third known candidate to interview with owner Woody Johnson and other team brass for the coaching job. New York also met with former Tennessee coach Mike Vrabel and former Carolina and Washington coach Ron Rivera last week. Jets interim coach Jeff Ulbrich, who went 3-9 after replacing the fired Robert Saleh on Oct. 8, said he also will interview for the full-time job sometime this week.
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“The thing you have to do is, you have to connect with your football team, you have to connect with your fan base,” Ryan said during his radio appearance. “The way they play, that’s the most important thing. It’s not just the X’s and O’s and all that.”
The team also is searching for a general manager after firing Joe Douglas in November. The Jets already have interviewed former Falcons GM Thomas Dimitroff, former Tennessee GM Jon Robinson, Senior Bowl executive Jim Nagy and former NFL executive and current ESPN analyst Louis Riddick.
Ryan is an intriguing candidate for the Jets’ coaching job because he has previous history with Johnson and the franchise. He was also one of the team’s most popular figures, especially during his first few seasons as coach, because of his brash, colorful approach in news conferences that became must-watch TV.
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Ryan also won games, using a combination of ferocity on defense with a ground-and-pound offense to establish an aura of toughness. But the Jets couldn’t maintain that early success and missed the postseason during Ryan’s last four seasons.
After he was fired by the Jets, Ryan landed in Buffalo and coached the AFC East rival Bills. He didn’t make it through his second season there, fired with one game left in 2016 and finishing with a 15-16 record. Ryan has been out of coaching since, serving as a TV analyst.
Perhaps the first major decision the new coach and GM will need to make for the Jets will be the future of quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who is uncertain about returning for a 21st NFL season. Rodgers said he’ll take some time during the offseason to decide whether to continue playing — and knows if he does, it might not be for the Jets, who could release him.
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Ryan said during his appearance on ESPN New York radio that if he gets the Jets job and Rodgers returns, he would change some things around the facility. He referenced Rodgers missing mandatory minicamp because of a trip to Egypt that he scheduled during his recovery from the torn Achilles tendon that limited his 2023 season to four snaps.
“Clearly, when you have a guy that doesn’t show up for mandatory minicamp — and, by the way, he’s your quarterback coming off an injury — I think that’s an absolutely ridiculous message you send to the team,” Ryan said. “If he comes back, things would be different.
“If he’s back, it ain’t gonna be the country club, show up whenever the hell you want to show up. That ain’t gonna happen. I’ll just leave it at that.”
Reporting by The Associated Press.
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