Jets’ Rex Ryan goes from almost fired to receiving multi-year extension

New York fell short of its own expectations, but not enough to move on without Ryan. How much longer can he keep himself off the hot seat?

by Kenneth Arthur

Jan 16, 2014, 5:46 PM UTC

Ed Mulholland-USA TODAY Sports

Going into the 2013 NFL season, there was much speculation that of all the hot seats under coaches in the NFL, New York Jets head coach Rex Ryan had the hottest. With Big Apple expectations and coming off his first losing season as a head coach, many people thought that if the Jets didn't make the playoffs, Ryan would finally be on his way out.

But even though New York’s season went about as poorly as anyone could have expected, Ryan was not fired. In fact, on Thursday the Jets gave him an extension, according to Adam Schefter. The New York Post reports that the deal is not fully guaranteed after 2015, giving the team the opportunity to fire Ryan without it costing them much.

It was always expected that by the end of the year, Ryan would likely be fired or extended. Even Ryan himself reportedly told his players before their last game that he believed he was going to be fired. He was going into the final year of his contract, and teams rarely like to have an open-ended situation with their head coach. So when the Jets announced that Ryan would be staying put, an extension seemed inevitable. However, the announcement that Rex would be keeping his job was a bit of a surprise.

New York didn't just miss the playoffs, it also failed to post a winning record, finishing 8-8. And in the AFC, where the San Diego Chargers snuck into the postseason on the heels of a 9-7 record, the Jets were already eliminated before Week 17. Ryan's team went 6-10 in 2012 and were outscored by 94 points over the course of the season. The 2013 Jets were outscored by 97 points.

But perhaps the franchise opted to look past the numbers and instead put them in context of the situation. Ryan started rookie quarterback Geno Smith for all 16 games, and still New York scored more points than it did the year before. Smith was fairly bad for most of the season, throwing 21 interceptions, but the defense was able to keep the Jets in games and finished first in yards per carry allowed.

Ryan has now coached the Jets for five seasons, and while the offense has trended in the wrong direction, the defense remains stout. New York could have the best defensive line in the NFL, and if the Jets are able to field even an average offense next year, it seems plausible that they will be back in the playoffs for the first time since 2010. Ryan led his team to back-to-back AFC Championship Games back then, but has not posted a winning record or made the playoffs in the three years since.

The organization is giving him an opportunity to turn that around, but the extension past 2014 doesn’t give him any kind of guarantee that he will actually be with the team past 2014. He will likely still be on the hot seat next year, and if the Jets don’t improve, his contract could be negated just like that.