ESPN analyst and former NFL coach Rex Ryan suggested Thursday that the Dallas Cowboys were unwilling to pay him his asking price to fill their vacant defensive coordinator position during the offseason.
During an appearance on DiPietro & Rothenberg (h/t Jack McKessy of USA Today), Ryan indicated that he would have been the Cowboys’ DC had the two sides been able to reach a financial agreement: “I could’ve fixed [the Cowboys’ defense] in a New York minute. But, that being said, they couldn’t pony up the money, or I would’ve been there.”
Instead, the Cowboys hired Mike Zimmer, who was previously on Dallas’ staff from 1994 to 2006, before serving as head coach of the Minnesota Vikings from 2014 to 2021.
Dallas is off to a 1-2 start this season, and the defense has been at the forefront of the team’s struggles.
The Cowboys are 30th in the NFL in scoring defense, allowing 29.7 points per game, plus they are last in rushing yards allowed (185.7 per game) and 28th in total yards allowed (372.7 per game).
Ryan, who has extensive experience as an NFL head coach and defensive coordinator, opined that Zimmer was a poor choice for the Cowboys’ DC position, saying: “You brought in a guy that was 29th in the league his last two years at Minnesota, the enthusiasm he brings when he left, that’s the guy that’s gonna inspire you? This can go really bad for Dallas.”
The 61-year-old Ryan got his first defensive coordinator opportunity in the college ranks at Cincinnati and Oklahoma, and he later served in that role with the Baltimore Ravens from 2005 to 2008.
Baltimore ranked sixth or better in total defense in each of Ryan’s four seasons as DC, and the Ravens were a top-10 team in points allowed in three of his four seasons, including 2006 when they were first in both total defense and scoring defense.
Ryan parlayed that into a head coaching job with the New York Jets from 2009 to 2014 and then the Buffalo Bills from 2015 to 2016.
In his first two seasons in New York, Ryan took the Jets to the AFC Championship Game, but he never made it back to the postseason for the rest of his time as a head coach.
The Jets never finished worse than 11th in total defense in a season while Ryan was head coach, although they finished 19th or worse in points allowed in four of his six seasons.
Ryan also had a middling defense in Buffalo, ranking 19th in total defense in both 2015 and 2016 and 15th and 16th in scoring defense in 2015 and 2016, respectively.
Since getting fired by the Bills, Ryan has not coached in the NFL in any capacity, although his track record suggests he could still be a capable NFL DC.
Under defensive coordinator Dan Quinn, who was hired as head coach of the Washington Commanders, the Cowboys were fifth in both yards allowed and points allowed last season, which played a big role in them winning the NFC East.
Things have been much different this season, but given that Dallas returned many of the same players from last year’s squad on defense, the talent is there to turn things around in the coming weeks.
