NFL Sunday Countdown will be adding another prominent football personality after signing Rex Ryan to a multi-year deal.
Following his dismissal from the Buffalo Bills, it didn’t take Rex Ryan long to land another gig in football.
ESPN signed the former Bills and New York Jets head coach to a multi-year deal to appear as an analyst for Sunday NFL Countdown on Friday, according to The New York Daily News. Ryan will be the latest addition to a recently revamped cast that now includes Randy Moss, Charles Woodson, Matt Hasselbeck and Adam Schefter.
The 54-year-old Ryan first rose to prominence as the defensive coordinator for the Baltimore Ravens from 2005-2008 before taking over as head coach of the Jets. New York reached the AFC Championship Game in each of Ryan’s first two years, but didn’t finish above .500 from 2011-2014, leading to his dismissal.
Ryan landed back on his feet right away with the Bills the next season and turned in a promising enough 8-8 campaign. However, Buffalo regressed defensively in 2016 and decided to fire Ryan while sitting at 7-8 with one game left in the season.
The move to television hardly comes as a surprise, as many expected Ryan to follow that route after appearing as a guest analyst on ESPN prior to Super Bowl LI. While Ryan’s coaching ability is shaky at best, he became known as a beloved character around football for entertaining press conferences and hilarious quips, most of which were directed towards Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots.
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Ryan won’t be the only new addition to Sunday NFL Countdown, as ESPN is still searching for a replacement for longtime host Chris Berman. Ryan is still young enough to potentially get at least another coordinator job down the line, but television seems like the perfect fit for now.