After the Las Vegas Raiders fired Antonio Pierce, there are now six head coaching vacancies in the NFL. The New York Jets are one of them. But unlike the Raiders, the Jets have known they’ll be searching for a head coach long ago, when they fired Robert Saleh after Week 5 for going 2-3.
The Jets have gotten a good head start in their interview process and have already met with several candidates. One of them is already letting people know that he believes he’ll be the next Jets head coach.
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Rex Ryan hasn’t lost any confidence during New York Jets coaching search
One of the candidates who’s already interviewed for the New York Jets’ head coaching vacancy is Rex Ryan. Of course, Gang Green knows him all too well from his first stint in the Big Apple, when he coached them for six seasons from 2009 to 2014. Ryan had a 46-50 record, which included two trips to the AFC Conference Championship.
What’s crazy is that Ryan hasn’t coached the Jets for 10 seasons now, yet the franchise hasn’t been to the playoffs since. Now that he’s once again become a candidate to be hired in New York, Coach Ryan has complete confidence that he’ll be hired by his former team. He even says he’s a better fit for the job than top candidate Ben Johnson is.
“100 percent, absolutely I do. And the reason I think I’m going to get it is because I’m the best guy and it ain’t close. The thing you have to do, 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. 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.”
Rex Ryan on his New York Jets candidacy
Rex Ryan will interview with the #Jets tomorrow, and he loves his odds of getting the job.@HDumpty39 | @RothenbergESPN
— DiPietro & Rothenberg (@DRonESPN) January 6, 2025
LISTEN: https://t.co/jLsa28DGEc. pic.twitter.com/WcGl1oXsDS
Ryan has never lacked confidence, even after being fired from two NFL franchises. So, in some ways, hearing his latest claim isn’t all that surprising either. Whether the Jets agree that he’s the best man for the job remains to be seen, but he at least has a strong resume with previous NFL head coaching experience.
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