Whether you watch Sunday NFL Countdown or Get Up on Mondays on ESPN, Rex Ryan is not afraid to tell it like he sees it when breaking down the NFL.
The former head coach of the New York Jets and Buffalo Bills was a guest on The Michael Kay Show with Don La Greca and Peter Rosenberg on Thursday. Rosenberg asked Ryan about whether or not he had aspirations to be in the broadcast booth, which Ryan did once before on Monday Night Football back in 2017.
“I’m just out here enjoying what I’m doing. I think I blew that already when they had me do a game. That was the first experience I had and everyone said just be yourself. I never knew how to be myself…I guess I never knew what the hell I was.”
As far as his analysis on TV goes, Ryan said he is not afraid to say when something stinks on the football field and that comes from the experience he has of being around the NFL.
“I think the audience knows that when I say something, I mean it. It’s never a personal thing. It’s always what I believe to be the truth. It generally works out that oh man, this dude was telling the truth about this player. I never try to make it a personal attack on a guy, but if I think something stinks, I’m going to say it. This is what I see. It’s only based on 30 years of coaching and being around this league all my life. I think it gives me something other people don’t have. The voice of experience and somebody who is not afraid of it.
“I’m not worried about my next job. Some of these guys when I hear them, I’m like ‘Oh my god, what are you doing?’ It’s almost like you see a guy trying to get a job or something. Those days are gone.”
Ryan hasn’t been a head coach since 2016 and he told the trio that he hasn’t had a phone call to return to coaching, but it is something he accepts and now he gets to enjoy the game in a different way.
“I’ve been available for the last 5 years and I haven’t had one phone call. I’m not doing this anymore. I’m ok with it. I put every single thing I had into coaching, 100%, and now I am just enjoying the games like fans do. I love the game and I am just enjoying it just like our fans do.”
