Rex Ryan is circling the wagons after a first-year fizzle in Buffalo, hiring fierce loyalists — from inside and outside the family tree — to help him try to save his job.
First, it was his twin brother, Rob, hired this weekend as assistant head coach (and probably defensive coordinator). On Wednesday, the Bills announced they are bringing on all-time great NFL safety Ed Reed as the assistant defensive backs coach. Reed, 37, finished his career playing for Ryan on the Jets in 2013, after spending four prime years on the Ravens defense when Ryan was defensive coordinator (2005-08).
“Ed Reed is going to be such a great asset to our team,” Rex Ryan said through the Bills’ website. “Obviously he’s played in this system and been an MVP-caliber guy in this system. He’s going to be such a great asset for players. He’s a real student of the game as well, and he’s going to be a phenomenal coach.”
Bart Scott, Reed’s former Ravens teammate and a Jets predecessor, has pointed to a lack of Rex true believers in the Bills locker room as a major pitfall during an 8-8 season that included middling defense and open dissent from defensive stars Mario Williams and Marcell Dareus.
“The fact that he didn’t bring his guys with him hurts,” Scott told The Post’s Justin Terranova last month. “When he came to New York he brought [me], Jim Leonhard, Marques Douglas, guys that have been in his system and understand his message and were able to push that message to the rest of the team during hard times. Right now, there’s nobody to stand up for him in the locker room because they don’t have that kind of history and know where he’s coming from and [what] his vision for the team is.”