Rex Ryan is awfully confident he’ll return to his old job as the New York Jets head coach and believes 100% he’s the right guy for the gig.
“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 his appearance on ESPN New York Radio’s “DiPietro & Rothenberg Show.” “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 X’s and O’s 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 Detroit Lions offensive coordinator, is expected to draw plenty of interest this offseason. The New England Patriots requested to interview him, as have the Chicago Bears.
Ryan is expected to interview for the Jets’ coaching vacancy this week. They fired Robert Saleh after a 1-5 start and didn’t improve much under Jeff Ulbrich. New York finished 5-12 this season and missed the playoffs for a 14th straight season.
Should Ryan get the job and Aaron Rodgers returns to the Jets, the 62-year-old said the quarterback won’t receive the “country club” treatment Rodgers has been used to.
“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.”
Rodgers said after the Jets’ win in their Week 18 finale against the Miami Dolphins that he’s going to take him to think about what his next move will be, but he won’t hold anyone up as he makes a decision about his future.
Ryan coached the longtime Patriots rival from 2009-14 and finished with a 46-50 record. The 46 wins rank third among Jets head coaches and his four playoff wins are the most in franchise history.
But while he had success early on, including leading the Jets to consecutive AFC Championship Game appearances, Ryan had losing seasons in two of his final three years.
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