Rex Ryan has questioned the accuracy of a report from his teammate Adam Schefter on ESPN airwaves.
Earlier this week, reports indicated that former Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer was expected to land the job as defensive coordinator of the Cowboys — a job he held from 2000-06 and one for which Ryan had recently interviewed.
This led to a bizarre exchange during ESPN’s Super Bowl 2024 pregame show Sunday.
Schefter narrated a report in which he said that “the Cowboys went ahead and hired Mike Zimmer as their defensive coordinator.”
The NFL insider noted that the Cowboys talked to a “wide number of candidates, like our own Rex Ryan, and I can tell you this — they loved Rex. They were highly impressed with Rex. Rex made quite a mark on the Jones family, and I’m a little surprised they didn’t hire him with as much as they loved him.”
Host Sam Ponder joked that she was “quite offended” that NFL teams are trying to take Ryan away from ESPN, and this is when Ryan disputed Schefter’s report about Zimmer.
“I can honestly say right here, first off, I’m not so sure that Zimmer’s got that job right now. Not real sure about that,” Ryan said.
“I can honestly say I don’t believe that’s a fact right now.”
Ryan was head coach of the Jets from 2009-14 before spending two seasons as head coach of the Bills.
He has been out of the NFL since 2016.
“But I would say this: The reason I’ve been out for seven years, I’ve never called another head coach or anything like that, but I called Mike McCarthy,” Ryan continued.
“The reason I did is because I want to be on this stage [at the Super Bowl] if I’m going to get back into coaching. I think with this roster the way it is, I think offensively, special teams, and defense — I figured I can make a little bit of an upgrade — that they can be right here. That’s why I was interested.”
He said that most teams would “have no chance at me” and said he would only return to the NFL for “the right situation.”
Said Ryan: “If it’s not completely right, then I’m not going.”
