Mike Tannenbaum, who will assist in the New York Jets’ upcoming head coach and general manager searches, publicly addressed the possibility of New York reuniting with former head coach Rex Ryan.
While appearing on “The Michael Kay Show,” host Jake Asman asked Tannenbaum if it would make sense for Ryan to earn an interview for the team’s head coach vacancy. Tannenbaum was complimentary of Ryan but generally danced around the question.
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“Yeah, we’ll see how it goes,” Tannenbaum said. “I think the world of Rex. He’s a great guy, he’s a friend. I think he does a great job on TV. I know he’s interviewed for other positions around the league, and we’ll see how the process goes in the coming weeks and months. Obviously, his success and resume speaks for itself, and it will be vetted and compared to the other candidates that could be coming in for a position.”
Tannenbaum was the Jets’ general manager who hired Ryan in 2009. Now, 15 years later, Tannenbaum watches Ryan, who last coached the Jets’ division-rival Buffalo Bills in 2016, campaign for the Jets’ 2025 head coaching job.
Tannenbaum was quite vague and diplomatic when responding to Asman’s question about Ryan, as he should be for several reasons. First, he showed his gratitude and love for Ryan. While it might have been intentional that Tannenbaum avoided a direct answer to the question, it is also early in the process. It has been less than a week since the Jets brought The 33rd Team aboard to spearhead the search. Six weeks remain in the regular season.
Tannenbaum also spoke about how he and former Minnesota Vikings general manager Rick Spielman got brought in to help with the search and how the former executives will help guide the process of finding the team’s next head coach and general manager.
“Well, I have 16 years of working for [the Johnson family], and having a good amount of success when we were together,” Tannenbaum said. “They reached out, and I started a company about five years ago called The 33rd Team. And we aggregate a lot of information, a lot of data, a lot of trends, work with a ton of experts in the industry. They retained us to help with that search, it’s a search that they’re going to be leading. And I think the experience that Rick Spielman brings, and all the searches he’s done, and myself, hopefully, at the end of the day, there will be a really good result.”
As the Jets search for new leadership, Tannenbaum and Spielman will bring extensive front-office experience to help guide the process. The Jets are hoping for similar success to the search Spielman aided for the Washington Commanders this year, which yielded general manager Adam Peters and head coach Dan Quinn.
