Rex Ryan as John Harbaugh’s first Giants defensive coordinator would’ve been fascinating.
But Harbaugh wound up hiring Dennard Wilson — the Titans’ defensive coordinator the past two years — to run his defense.
Wilson was Harbaugh’s secondary coach in Baltimore in 2023.
As for Ryan, Harbaugh did seriously consider hiring him. Or so it seems.
“I talked to Rex about that job at length,” Harbaugh told The Athletic. “Rex is a guy I love and have a lot of respect for.”
Harbaugh was the Ravens’ head coach from 2008-25. In that first season, Ryan was his defensive coordinator. Than Ryan served as the Jets’ big whistle from 2009-14 — a rather eventful run.
The Jets reached the AFC title game in each of Ryan’s first two seasons — then failed to make the playoffs or have a winning record in all of his final four years. Ryan’s final record with the Jets was 46-50 in the regular season, plus 4-2 in the playoffs.
Since the Bills canned Ryan after an underwhelming two-season run (15-16 record) as their head coach from 2015-16, he has been out of coaching. Ryan, 63, currently works as an analyst on ESPN.
Will he ever coach again? As the years go on, that seems less and less likely. But we know one thing for sure: He won’t be Harbaugh’s first defensive coordinator in East Rutherford.
Meanwhile, as Wilson takes over, he will try to improve a unit that underwhelmed the past two seasons under Shane Bowen, who was fired midway through 2025 after a disastrous series of late-game collapses.