The New York Jets are hiring Seth Ryan, son of former head coach Rex Ryan, as their offensive passing game coordinator, a person with knowledge of the move told The Associated Press on Saturday.
Seth Ryan spent the last five seasons with Detroit while serving in various roles, including as the Lions’ assistant tight ends coach last year.
Ryan now will assist new Jets offensive coordinator Frank Reich, according to the person who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the team hadn't announced the hiring. ESPN first reported that Ryan was being added to head coach Aaron Glenn's staff.
The 31-year-old Ryan joins his father, who led the team from 2009-14 and currently is an ESPN analyst, and late grandfather Buddy, New York's defensive line coach from 1968 — as part of the franchise's first and still only Super Bowl appearance — through 1975, as the third generation of a coaching family to be on the sideline for the Jets.
The younger Ryan was a wide receiver at Summit High School, a few miles from where his father coached the Jets at their facility in Florham Park, New Jersey. He later played at Clemson and was part of the squad that beat Alabama in the College Football Playoff national championship in January 2017.
He began his coaching career with the Chargers in 2019 as an offensive quality control coach before joining the Lions as an assistant wide receivers coach in 2021 — when Glenn was Detroit’s defensive coordinator under Dan Campbell.
Reich was hired by Glenn on Wednesday to replace Tanner Engstrand, who agreed to part ways with the team last week after one year running the Jets' offense during a 3-14 season. The move was part of an offseason coaching staff overhaul by Glenn, who hired Brian Duker as his defensive coordinator to replace Steve Wilks.
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