Could Rex Ryan Return to NFL After Decade at ESPN?

Just when Rex Ryan was becoming the impressive, outspoken analyst ESPN has always wanted him to be, he could return to the NFL.

There’s growing chatter the ex-Jets and Bills head coach might leave ESPN for a return to the NFL sideline. New Giants coach John Harbaugh floated the possibility of Ryan becoming his defensive coordinator next season (Ryan served under Harbaugh with the Ravens in 2008 before being hired by the Jets).

“Why not? Could you imagine Rex coming back in here? I’m not ruling anything out,” Harbaugh said in an interview with WFAN. “A guy like Rex, he’s around the game, he knows the game. He’s going to have to get updated a little bit with some of the scheme stuff, but I’ll tell you, no one calls a better game than Rex Ryan.”

The chatter around Harbaugh and Ryan teaming up again started even earlier, with a post by longtime NFL insider Gary Myers. ESPN’s Sunday NFL Countdown analyst would be an “outstanding hire,” Myers tweeted on Tuesday.

I reached out to Myers on Thursday. The author of “Brady vs. Belichick: The Dynasty Debate” noted Ryan and Harbaugh also coached together at the University of Cincinnati in the 1990’s. Ryan was the Ravens’ defensive line coach for their Super Bowl XXXV win over the Giants and was Harbaugh’s defensive coordinator in Baltimore in 2008, when the team made the AFC title game. As Jets head coach, he led the franchise to two straight AFC Championship games in his first two seasons from 2009-2010. Even though he’s been out of the league since joining ESPN in 2017, Ryan would get up to speed quickly, Myers told FOS.

“He’s one of the best defensive coaches of this generation…With his aggressive schemes and the Giants pass rushers, he would be a great fit in New York,” says Myers. “But the Giants would have to get a shutdown corner to make it all work. Key: Ryan would only talk to the media once a week, so he would not be having daily press conferences like he did with the Jets. That means he would have less opportunity to stir things up. He has too much respect for Harbaugh to do that anyway.”

Ryan has been an opinionated mainstay on Sunday NFL Countdown and Mike Greenberg’s Get Up weekday morning show during football season. Get Up in particular has become top-heavy with former Jets such as Ryan, Damien Woody, and Bart Scott. If he leaves, one name zooms to the top of the list: Mike Tomlin. 

There’s been speculation the former Steelers coach will join another franchise next season. But NFL insider Jay Glazer emphatically believes Tomlin’s taking at least a year off from coaching–clearing the way for a move into TV.

“I know people also say, ‘Well, now could Mike Tomlin come out?’”  said Glazer on FS1. “No, that’s not happening. Mike T’s done. He’s done. He’s been done.”

Sure, Ryan has been away from the sidelines for nearly a decade. But his TV work has enabled him to stay on top of NFL offenses and defenses, notes Myers. At 63 years old, it may be now or never to put the headset back on.

“Ryan is a very smart coach, a career coach, and football is football. The game has changed, but the idea is still to put the quarterback on his ass, which Ryan’s defenses have always done,” says Myers. “It just has to be done a little gentler now with all the rule changes.”

ESPN declined to comment.