Rex Ryan might be swapping out one dysfunctional front office for another. The former New York Jets coach will reportedly interview for the San Francisco 49ers job, to the delight of NFL fans everywhere—San Francisco excluded.
NFL.com's Kimberly Jones was the first to break the news:
Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News reported a few days ago that the Atlanta Falcons are also pursuing Ryan:
In the right situation, Ryan could be a successful head coach. The Falcons might be a nice bet since they already have the offensive infrastructure in place to win and need to get tougher on defense, which is Ryan's specialty.
Atlanta's essentially the inverse of San Francisco. Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury News believes that the only people who would benefit from a Ryan/49ers partnership are those on the outside; basically, the same people who loved Ryan's time with the Jets:
Bleacher Report's Mike Freeman was similarly critical of the idea:
One of the biggest problems the Jets suffered under Ryan was erratic quarterback play. Mark Sanchez, Geno Smith and Greg McElroy aren't exactly a murderers' row of QBs, but good coaches make the most out of a bad situation. Ryan simply made a bad situation worse. Not one of those players improved noticeably under Ryan's tutelage.
When you envision somebody who can help bring out the best in Colin Kaepernick , Ryan's the opposite of that guy. According to Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio , though, he seems to be a big fan of Kaepernick :
Still, Ryan's not an offensive guru, and the numbers bear that out.
The Jets consistently had good to great defenses under Ryan, but their offenses were always among the league's worst. You can see below where New York ranked in yards and points per game, according to Pro-Football-Reference, and also Football Outsiders' offensive DVOA (defense-adjusted value over average).
In order for the 49ers to improve and compete for a Super Bowl in 2015, they'll need to get better offensively. It's hard to see how that would happen with Ryan in charge.
If San Francisco was bringing him in as a defensive coordinator, then this would be a no-brainer. When looking at the bigger picture, however, it just doesn't make sense.
Ryan also possesses an outsized personality, to say the least. Jim Harbaugh might have gotten animated on the sidelines, but he was generally nondescript when talking to the media and didn't make himself part of the story leading up to a game.
Ryan, on the other hand, isn't afraid to dish out a little trash talk, which worked perfectly with the New York media and New York Jets fans. Who doesn't love a guy who dresses up like his brother during a press conference?
That's not gonna fly in San Francisco, especially after 49ers CEO Jed York talked about how he wants the team to "win with class," per Eric Branch of the San Francisco Chronicle:
Our mission is very simple: The San Francisco 49ers win with class. We haven't won, and I don't think we've conducted ourselves with the level of class that I expect of our organization. We've had off-the-field issues. That's going to happen in sports. The level that it's happened here is not acceptable.
You get the sense that York wants it so that no head coach is bigger than the owner. CBS Sports' Jason La Canfora said that York's being discussed in the same conversation with Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder in terms of meddling (via CBSSports .com's Ryan Wilson):
I was talking to people around the league this week and the word a lot of us used to describe him was Snyder-esque. I really thought that [York] got it. I thought he was kind of beyond all this pettiness and maybe I gave him more credit than he deserved. I had written some pretty positive things about him ... and he does understand things that his dad doesn't ... and he has reconnected with some former players, and he has bridged some gaps and he did get where there were some disconnects.
But I also feel like his youthfulness and inexperience and his lack of time on the planet has hurt him.
Just imagine the drama between Ryan and York. Like Kawakami said, it would be great to watch if you had no emotional investment in the 49ers' success.
With the way in which San Francisco let go of Harbaugh, you wouldn't put anything past the team's front office. The 49ers looked like a potential dynasty a few years ago. Instead, they mutually parted ways with a head coach who delivered 44 wins and three trips to the NFC Championship Game in four years.
But even York must find the idea of hiring Ryan too crazy to actually execute.
from Bleacher Report http://ift.tt/1xyO383
via IFTTT January 01, 2015 at 04:39PM
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