Former NFL head coach and current ESPN analyst Rex Ryan interviewed Saturday in Denver for the Broncos’ defensive coordinator job on Sean Payton’s staff, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
Ryan and former Broncos head coach Vance Joseph are among a handful of candidates for the job. Joseph, who had been the Arizona Cardinals’ defensive coordinator since 2019, is also expected to interview for the Philadelphia Eagles’ defensive coordinator position, according to multiple reports.
Ryan, 60, has told ESPN he would only leave the network “for the perfect situation,” Schefter reported.
He joined ESPN in April 2017 after a nearly 30-year coaching career that included eight seasons as an NFL head coach with the New York Jets (2009-14) and Buffalo Bills (2015-16). He led the Jets to back-to-back AFC Championship Game appearances in the 2009 and ’10 seasons.
Before he became a head coach, Ryan was with the Baltimore Ravens for 10 seasons, including four seasons as the team’s defensive coordinator during which his unit ranked in the top 10 every season.
Ryan’s defenses with the Jets also finished ranked in the top 10 in five of his six seasons as head coach.
Payton hired longtime NFL assistant/special teams coach Mike Westhoff to be the assistant head coach, sources told ESPN’s Jeff Legwold on Friday. Westhoff, who turned 75 last month, will oversee the Broncos’ special teams with Ben Kotwica having been hired as special teams coordinator. Westhoff and Kotwica worked together on Ryan’s Jets staff from 2009 to 2012.