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Report: Rex Ryan Looking To Make Coaching Comeback; Top Candidate For AFC West Team

Originally posted on Gridiron Heroics | By Jordan Sigler | Last updated 2/16/23

Rex Ryan wants to coach again

Rex Ryan hasn’t coached in the NFL since the end of the 2016 season when the Buffalo Bills fired him. Ryan has been an NFL analyst on ESPN since then. It was assumed Ryan would want to get back into the NFL coaching game after his stint in Buffalo. But a new report claimed he’s the top candidate for an AFC West team.

Ryan told USA Today’s Lorenzo Reyes in 2015 that he had no interest in coaching after he was done with the Bills:

“This is definitely going to be it,” Ryan said.” This is my last stop in coaching, and then when my days are up, I’ll turn it over to the younger generation. I’m not going anywhere else.”

Things have changed after six years in a media booth.

Top candidate in Denver

According to Ian Rapoport with the NFL Network, Ryan is the top candidate to be the Denver Broncos’ defensive coordinator.

Comeback? Rex Ryan has emerged as a top candidate for the #Broncos defensive coordinator job, per me and @MikeGarafolo. Ryan has been on ESPN after being fired by the #Bills in 2016. If all goes well, he could be headed back in the NFL. pic.twitter.com/pkPzR7SY1D

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) February 16, 2023

Rex Ryan would be on new head coach Sean Payton’s staff. Payton has been no stranger to the Ryan family. Rob Ryan was Payton’s defensive coordinator from the 2013-15 seasons with the New Orleans Saints. Rob had early success with the team before he was fired after the 2015 season when the Saints had the worst defense in the NFL.

Rex had early success as the head coach of the New York Jets. His defenses were special in his first two seasons in New York. The Jets would make and lose two consecutive AFC Championship Game appearances. But the offense could never help the team get over the hump with quarterback Mark Sanchez. When he was from the Jets fired and went to the Bills for two seaons, his teams hovered around .500 and never made the playoffs.

Rex Ryan, if hired, would inherit a problematic situation in Denver. The Broncos’ defense had a decent season in 2022, but they lost star players like Bradley Chubb, as the team’s salary cap is tight with quarterback Russell Wilson.

This article first appeared on Gridiron Heroics and was syndicated with permission.

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