Ryan’s six-year reality show with the Jets — biting one-liners, hilarious skits, Mark Sanchez tattoos, and Super Bowl guarantees — has created off-the-chart expectations among television executives that he will be outrageous, a comedian, and a trash-talker creating controversial headlines in the NFL pre-game show business after he gets fired by Woody Johnson. That’s an awful lot to ask and way too much to expect.
Ryan has the league’s network business partners falling over themselves to bring Rex TV to their studio shows — where the panelists talk in sound bites, a Ryan specialty — or perhaps to their broadcast booth as a game analyst, where he can break down a game with the best of them.
They look at Rex and they see the next John Madden.
Boom!
“I think Rex is going to be awesome,” one network executive told the Daily News on Monday. “He has a way of saying stuff that is going to create a buzz on television. He would be a huge asset. A breath of fresh air, too. We talk about coach-speak all the time. I think the guy will make it entertaining. He has a personality. I would say right now he would be better in the studio than at a game.”
Ryan’s run as Jets coach will certainly end Dec. 29 — Black Monday. He will have missed the playoffs his last four years after getting the Jets to the AFC Championship Game in each of his first two seasons.
If Ryan’s first choice is to get another head coaching job, the Jets’ dismal season, possibly as bad as 2-14, could make him a tough sell to the fan base of any owner who wants to hire him.
Although Ryan has been sabotaged by GM John Idzik’s personnel moves, he still must be held accountable. I don’t think he’s going to want to go back to being a defensive coordinator to rehab his reputation, although Bill Belichick, Pete Carroll and Mike Shanahan did it after getting fired from head coaching jobs, and later won the Super Bowl. So TV might be his best option in 2015.
It might be in Ryan’s best interests to take a year off from coaching to let the stink of the Jets’ season evaporate. ESPN, CBS, Fox, NBC and the NFL Network could all use the juice he could provide to grab attention with their Sunday pregame shows. Ryan is making about $3.5 million per year with the Jets (he has one guaranteed year remaining), which is considerably more than most studio jobs. Wouldn’t it be something if he finishes 2-14 and the networks get into a bidding war for him?
Of course, the networks want Ryan to come in and be himself, rather than the watered-down version he transitioned into the last two years in an attempt to please the buttoned-down Idzik.
But here’s a warning to the TV execs: Ryan is entertaining, but judged against his whole body of work in his four 15-minute news conferences during the season over six years, he’s only occasionally outrageous.
It’s not as if he had the media doubling over in laughter every day. He is a football guy. He is not a stand-up comic; he is not Jerry Seinfeld or Billy Crystal
Compared to the three years of Eric Mangini, sure, Rex was a riot. But so is Idzik.
The buildup for Rex TV will make it impossible for him to live up to the hype. Certainly, he can do better than Bill Cowher, who said on the NFL Today on Sunday that the Cowboys will “only go as far as Tony Romo goes. He’s on a career best year … But again, a healthy Tony Romo gives them the best chance.”
Maybe he thought Cowboys fans were hoping for Brandon Weeden to play Sunday night in Philly.
Actually, if CBS wins the Ryan Derby, he could join Cowher in The NFL Today studio and potentially replace his former linebacker Bart Scott on the desk. Ryan would be more relevant at ESPN than Mike Ditka, who sparred often with Rex’s dad, Buddy, when Ditka was the Bears head coach and Buddy was his defensive coordinator.
ESPN loves former Jets coaches: Herm Edwards works there and Bill Parcells and Mangini did.
What? No Rich Kotite?
Fox tries so hard to make headlines, so even with Jimmy Johnson as their resident coach, they could find a place for Ryan. NBC seems set with Tony Dungy as its coach. CBS could be the most logistically appealing: Fox is in Los Angeles and ESPN is in Bristol. The NFL Network could use a major personality transplant.
Madden was the most successful former coach ever in broadcasting. He had a huge personality. The expectation in the television industry is Ryan could be the next Madden.
“I assume he will translate well to television because he is larger than life,” said Rick Burton, the Falk Professor of Sport Management at Syracuse University. “He will speak his mind. He might be dangerous and go off script.”
Ryan has a television agent and has for quite some time. When it was unclear if he would return to the Jets this season, there were preliminary talks with networks.
What about Ryan holding back because he plans to coach again? “I would want to talk to him about that,” the executive said. “I really don’t think Rex cares. He will speak his mind. He’s been very outspoken about the Patriots while he’s been with the Jets. He comes across not caring what people think about him.
If he goes into television and has success, people won’t want to let him go.”
The Jets’ season, thankfully, is just about over. The Ryan Derby is about to begin.
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