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With the regular season winding down, the New York Jets are finally starting to look around for someone to fill in as head coach. The team is reportedly set to interview two candidates in the coming weeks to replace Robert Saleh, who was fired in October after a 2-3 start.
One of the candidates is former Carolina Panthers and Washington Commanders head coach Ron Rivera, who is scheduled to interview with the Jets this week, per NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero. Rivera coached the Panthers from 2011-2019, and spent four years at the helm with Washington before being fired in 2023.
The Jets’ other interviewee is a familiar face: former Jets head coach Rex Ryan, who told 880AM ESPN New York that he expects to speak with the team about the vacancy after the regular season is over.
The Jets, who are 4-12 and have long been eliminated from the postseason, will play their final game of the year next weekend against the Miami Dolphins. Defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich took over as interim head coach after Saleh was fired.
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Rivera was a two-time AP NFL Coach of the Year, winning the honor in 2013 and 2015 after leading the Panthers to 12-4 and 15-1 finishes, respectively. Rivera led his teams to the playoffs five times in 13 seasons across the two franchises; in 2015, he led Carolina to Super Bowl 50, but fell to the Denver Broncos.
Ryan, who coached the Jets from 2009-2014 and spent two seasons coaching the Buffalo Bills, led the Jets to two playoffs appearances at the start of his head coaching tenure. Those appearances were the last time that the Jets made the playoffs; at 14 years, the team holds the longest active postseason drought in professional sports.
Ryan has not coached since being fired from the Bills in 2016, instead joining ESPN’s Sunday NFL Countdown as an analyst in 2017.
Although the team has held interviews to replace general manager Joe Douglas, who was fired in November, the Jets had yet to interview anyone for the open coaching position, despite firing Saleh in October. The new head coach will have a lot to handle with this Jets team, including what to do about struggling quarterback Aaron Rodgers.