NFL Rumors: Cowboys ‘Loved’ Rex Ryan Before Mike Zimmer Agreed to DC Contract

Timothy Rapp@@TRappaRTFeatured Columnist IVFebruary 11, 2024

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The Dallas Cowboys are reportedly expected to hire Mike Zimmer to serve as the new defensive coordinator, though they also apparently interviewed former NFL head coach and current ESPN analyst Rex Ryan for the gig.

“They loved Rex. They were highly impressed with Rex,” ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Sunday. “Rex made quite the mark on the Jones family. And I’m a little surprised they didn’t hire him, with as much as they loved him.”

Ryan himself added that he wasn’t so sure it was a fact that Zimmer definitely secured the job, and revealed that he called Mike McCarthy about the team’s defensive coordinator vacancy because he wants to be on the Super Bowl stage if he ever gets back into coaching and believes the Cowboys have the talent to get there.

Ryan, 61, hasn’t coached since the 2016 season. His coaching career has included stints as the defensive coordinator at Morehead State (1990-93), Cincinnati (1996-97), Oklahoma (1998) and the Baltimore Ravens (2005-08), alongside being the head coach for the New York Jets (2009-16).

It wouldn’t be unprecedented to hire a coach who had a lengthy absence from the profession while they were in the media. Jon Gruden was out of football for 10 years before the Las Vegas Raiders brought him aboard as head coach in 2018. But it would have been surprising if the Cowboys went with Ryan nonetheless.