Rex Ryan has never been one to shy away from the media’s attention. In fact, he’s cheekily consumed more limelight than a college junior does Monster and tall lattes from Starbucks during finals week.
And it’s been an absolute joy following Ryan.
Sure, maybe he has as many Super Bowl rings as Mark Sanchez has butt fumbles. And, fine, maybe that ring came with a stacked Baltimore Ravens defense and Jamaal Lewis’ glorious rookie season.
Let’s not dismantle the man’s peak as an NFL coach.
His head-coaching resume hasn’t been what he expected, so he at least deserves the right to savor that championship from his Ravens days. Ryan led the New York Jets to back-to-back AFC Championship games with nothing but defensive sex appeal and a “game manager.”
To be fair, the Jets were close – closer than 28 other teams. That, in itself, is something to be marveled. He was so close he could taste it – more than Geno Smith could taste that jab from IK Enemkpali.
In the end, though, Ryan was the one who took the cheap shot on the chin. Management gave him a talent-starved offense and expected him to win with sheer defense. Even when the new (now former) Jets regime entered and shipped off Darrelle Revis to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Ryan did his job to the best of his ability.
It wasn’t enough.
A few one-liners and many SportsCenter Not-Top-10 plays later, Ryan is coaching the Buffalo Bills. But his Jets days drained so much energy that he’s proclaimed Buffalo to be his last stop – calling coaching in the NFL a “young man’s game.” Ryan is 51.
But if he’s right, if it is a young man’s game, who exactly is in that wave of young, emerging NFL coaches? Don’t worry. Go ahead and top off your coffee. We already compiled the list: the NFL’s top-11 coaches (under 50).
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