A bona fide NFL insider has thrown cold water on the Rex Ryan-to-Denver Broncos speculation. Appearing on the Pat McAfee Show on Monday, ESPN’s Adam Schefter bluntly stated — and repeated — that Ryan “is not going to Denver right now” to become their defensive coordinator.
“You know who my source is on that? Rex. We were talking about it yesterday as we were watching the games,” Schefter said. “He’s not going to Denver right now.”
The rumor was perpetuated by the same individual to whom Schefter was speaking: Pat McAfee, who earlier Monday relayed supposed “rumblings” that the Broncos are looking to replace beleaguered DC Vance Joseph with the former Jets and Bills head coach.
“That name has been on the radar for a potential return to defensive coordinating, and potentially to the Denver Broncos — allegedly,” McAfee claimed, choosing his words carefully. “This is not from anybody within ESPN. This is just what people are hearing around the league. They’re hearing, ‘Hey, they’re thinking about making a change and they’re thinking about going big.'” Currently employed by ESPN as an NFL analyst, Ryan was among the finalists this offseason for the coordinator gig that eventually went to Joseph, the brainchild behind the league’s last-ranked defense which has drawn Ryan’s ire on multiple occasions.
“This is an absolute disaster,” he said after Denver’s 70-20 loss to Miami in Week 3. “Nobody saw this coming. This defense literally was supposed to be a top-five defense in the league — and maybe number one with the right guy running it. “I’m sitting here like, ‘Are you kidding me?’ That could have been me there. Maybe they should have ponied up a little bit.”
To hear Schefter tell it, there’s still a chance Ryan joins the Broncos (or a different team) after the season. But his succession of Joseph isn’t nearly as imminent as McAfee made it seem. “He’s going to consider all these coaching offers, and he’s very happy doing what he does,” Schefter said. “Like with anything with anybody, if somebody wants you enough, they make you feel it. If somebody makes him feel wanted enough — whether that’s financially or another way — could I see him going back to coaching one day? That’s always been the case.”
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