Getty Former New York Jets head coach Rex Ryan walking the sidelines.
The Denver Broncos have yet to hire a defensive coordinator to their coaching staff, but there seems to be one name that raised some eye brows.
On February 12, Jay Glazer of Fox Sports reported that Broncos head coach Sean Payton interviewed former NFL head coach Rex Ryan.
A little Sunday morning scoopage: new Broncos head coach Sean Payton interviewed a surprise candidate this week to be his defensive coordinator, ESPN’s Rex Ryan @NFLonFOX
Now that we’re days later from that report, Troy Renck of Denver7 reported on his weekly radio show hit on 104.3 The Fan that Ryan’s name has not been ruled out yet.
“One name that’s gaining traction, I talked to multiple people this morning, I’m not saying this is going to happen, but they’re definitely saying to not rule it out and that’s Rex Ryan.”
Ryan hasn’t coached in the NFL since 2016 when he was the head coach of the Buffalo Bills. Since then, he’s been working at ESPN as an NFL analyst.
Ryan Was a Better DC than HC
After breaking into the NFL coaching world in 1999 as the defensive line coach for the Baltimore Ravens, Ryan turned into one of the most well respected defensive minds in the NFL.
In 2005, Ryan was promoted to the defensive coordinator position with the Ravens and remained the play caller for four seasons.
During those four seasons calling plays, Ryan’s defenses ranked in the top-10 of scoring defenses three times including two of those seasons ranking in the top three.
In 2009, Ryan was hired as the head coach of the New York Jets and remained the leader of the Jets defense.
In the six seasons of being in charge of the Jets’ defense, Ryan’s defenses only had one year in which his defense ranked worse than 20th in points allowed.
After being named the head coach of the Jets, Ryan took his team to the AFC Championship twice in his first two seasons.
In 2014, Ryan was fired from the Jets after a 4-12 season.
Less than a month later, Ryan was hired by the Bills to be their next head coach.
Ryan only coached Buffalo for two seasons with his defenses never ranking better than 15th in scoring defense.
As a head coach in the NFL, Ryan has an overall coaching record of 61-66.
Broncos Will Have to Reboot Their Defense
After a great start to the season on defense, the Broncos struggled later in the year and finished the season 14th in scoring defense.
Through the first 12 games of the season, Denver gave up an average of 17 points per game. In the final five games, the Broncos gave up an average of 31 points per game.
Entering the offseason, the Broncos will need to reboot their roster on defense.
Along the defensive line, Denver could potentially lose starters Dre’Mont Jones and DeShawn Williams to free agency. The Broncos have the option to place the franchise tag on Jones, but it will cost nearly $20 million.
At the linebacker position, the Broncos could also be without Alex Singleton who led the team in combined tackles with 163.
In the secondary, the Broncos could be losing veteran safety Kareem Jackson with his contract expiring. Denver could also look to move on from cornerback Ronald Darby to create $11.6 million in cap space.
With Ryan being known to blitz the quarterback more often than not, the Broncos are going to need to find some pass rushers.
Last season, the Broncos were the seventh worst team in the NFL when it came to sacks. Denver took the quarterback down just 35 times last season with Jones leading the team with 6.5 sacks.
The Broncos also traded away former first-round pick Bradley Chubb to the Miami Dolphins in exchange for a first-round pick. That pick eventually went to the New Orleans Saints in the trade for Payton.
It’s fair to say that if the Broncos are going to get back to the playoffs, they will need to not only improve the offense, but also get the Denver defense back to playing at an elite level.