LAS VEGAS - The tea leaves continue to point to the Dallas Cowboys hiring Mike Zimmer as their next defensive coordinator to replace Dan Quinn. But in an effort to "look around every corner and under ever rock,'' among the candidates they're also apparently interviewing is former NFL head coach Rex Ryan.
Ryan has been out of football since being fired by the Buffalo Bills during the 2016 season, but before that was considered one of the top creative defensive minds in the NFL He won a Super Bowl as defensive line coach of the Ravens in 2000 and was a success as the team's defensive coordinator between 2005 and 2008 before becoming the head coach of the Jets (with back-to-back AFC Championship Game appearances and back-to-back No. 1 defenses in the NFL) and then of the Bills.
According to NFL insider Josina Anderson, Ryan has interviewed for the Cowboys' defensive coordinator position with Quinn taking the head coaching job in Washington.
Zimmer, the long-time Dallas assistant, is viewed as the frontrunner here. Ron Rivera, just dismissed by Washington, is also a candidate.
Ryan, 61, the twin brother of Rob Ryan, who once worked as Dallas' defensive coordinator, has since moved into media, working primarily at ESPN.
The Cowboys have visited with in-house candidates but sources told CowboysSI.com last week that both owner Jerry Jones and head coach Mike McCarthy favored the idea of hiring an experienced coordinator, and maybe even one with head coaching experience, with Zimmer, Rivera and now Ryan fitting that profile.
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