Raiders' Rob Ryan: 'This is My Favorite Franchise'

Las Vegas Raiders senior defensive assistant coach Rob Ryan has the longest connection with the Silver and Black of any coach on staff.

Ryan, who enters his third season in his current role, served as the Raiders' defensive coordinator for five seasons (2004-2008-09). He has had coaching stints with the Arizona Cardinals, New England Patriots, the Cleveland Browns, the Dallas Cowboys, the New Orleans Saints, the Buffalo Bills, the Washington Redskins (now Commanders) and the Baltimore Ravens, but the Raiders have been his home the longest of any of them.

“It’s the best thing, best organization," Ryan said last week. "And like I already talked about; it’s got the best head coach, but it's got the best owner. And the Raiders, I love this franchise. And God knows I've been on 10 of them, so I should know. This is my favorite franchise, was when I worked with great Al Davis. I was there five years with four head coaches. The reason why he kept me, well, I was great. This place is special. And when you see the whole stadium out there, now we got a home field that believes in us, you got a whole stadium yelling for AP, AP. That was the coolest thing ever and now you see guys lined up to probably go buy an Aidan O'Connell jersey, but I'm sure they're sold out. It's a great organization. I love it.

"This is where I'm going to work the rest of my career, which hopefully will span for another...I want to beat my dad's record for longevity. I won't be the best Ryan by any stretch. But I do want to coach longer than all of them did, so that'd be good. And now Rex has got a kid in coaching. I got one who I'm going to break into this building one of these days in a couple years. And he'll probably be better than me, it won't be much, but he'll be better. I love it. I love the people; I love everything about this place. Uniforms are the sweetest in the league. They like a guy with long hair. I mean, it's a great place for me.”

Ryan is a great asset for the Raiders to have on their coaching staff. Not only does he have the familiarity with the organization, but he has 12 years as an NFL defensive coordinator to rely on as well.