There may be no bigger believer that Rex Ryan will get the Jets head coaching job than Rex Ryan himself.
Ryan, who coached the Jets from 2009-14, is looking for another crack at the job and will interview with Jets ownership this week in Florida.
But unlike other candidates, Ryan has been actively campaigning for the position through various appearances on ESPN properties – the network that currently employs him as an analyst – and was at it again on Monday morning proudly proclaiming he was the “best guy” for the gig.
Ryan, 62, appeared on ESPN New York’s “DiPietro & Rothenberg Show” where he boasted about himself and took a shot at Aaron Rodgers’ “country club” mentality.
“The reason I think I’m going to get it is because I’m the best guy for it. It ain’t close,” Ryan said during the radio appearance. “The thing you have to do is, you have to connect with your football team, you have to connect with your fan base. The way they play, that’s the most important thing. It’s not just the Xs and Os and all that. This Ben Johnson, I love him, I absolutely love him, but I’m a better candidate for this job than he would be.”
Johnson, the current Lions offensive coordinator and one of the hottest coaching prospects on the market, is not expected to interview for the Jets job.
But the Jets have already interviewed former Titans coach Mike Vrabel and former Panthers coach Ron Rivera, and have submitted interview requests for a number of names connected to other teams.
Ryan had been the head coach the last time the Jets made a postseason appearance and under his reign, the Jets made back-to-back AFC Championship Game appearances in 2009 and 2010.
He was fired after the 2014 season when the team went 4-12.
The Jets are coming off another disastrous season despite massive expectations for the team with a healthy Rodgers under center after missing all of the 2023 season following an injury in the first offensive series of his Jets tenure.
Rodgers struggled for parts of the 2024 season and was criticized for missing mandatory minicamp in the spring, which ended up costing him approximately $100,000 in a fine.
“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 of Rodgers during the interview. “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.”
Rodgers’ future with the Jets is unclear and owner Woody Johnson told The Post’s Brian Costello in an exclusive interview that any Rodgers decision would be made by the new head coach and general manager.
Credit: Source link
