John Idzik on Jets Coach Rex Ryan: “A Joy to Work With Him”

May 22, 2013; Florham Park, NJ, USA; New York Jets head coach Rex Ryan (left) and general manager John Idzik (right) during the New York Jets organized team activities at the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center. Mandatory Credit: Ed Mulholland-USA TODAY Sports

The old guard and the new guard, pictured here to the right, watching their football team work out. We could scrutinize to no end, how this relationship is going turn out in the end. Heck, we have done that a lot already, so we won’t beat that dead horse.

With minicamp coming to an end yesterday, John Idzik addressed the media, and one of the topics was working with Rex Ryan. Here is what he had to say:

He’s been fantastic. From day one, I kind of jumped in mid-stride and we started hiring coaches together, interviewing and hiring coaches together, going to free agency, evaluating our roster, draft, post-draft signings, minicamps, now we’re getting into more football type things. In a very condensed period of time, we’ve had a lot of varied experience together and it’s all been good. He’s a joy to work with. As you guys know, he makes it fun. I think he’s been energized. He’s a great teacher. My observations have been that he’s been energized by the whole thing and certainly I have (been) too. It’s been a joy to work with him.

Whether the relationship continues past 2013 or not, Idzik and Ryan are at least showing the world that they are a team that can work together. We can only hope that continues.

He addressed other minicamp issues, such as the WR’s and the drops:

It was (a rough couple of weeks). There’s a couple factors there I think. One, we have a new offensive system, practically the entire side of the ball, (except for) the receivers coach, the new coaches on the staff. So there’s a lot of newness that way in just the installation. We’re relatively young. And, we had some soft tissues type stuff, some minor stuff, that kept guys out, so it limited their reps a little bit. I think all things considered, there’s a lot going on. Like I said, we’ve filled their heads to the brim with that and you may miss a little time, some may miss a little time with a strain here or there, that factors in. But, is that a concern? That may be a little strong. It’s still early, we’re in the installation phases. There is an orientation of sort to our offense for the young guys, to the NFL. There’s a lot of factors going on and we’ll just keep pushing forward.

And he still won’t bite, no matter how often the beat guys ask about signings, such as Winslow:

We’ll talk about that. What’s nice about minicamp environments is you get three days. Unlike when you bring veterans in, or street guys in for free agent workouts, you may get them out on the field for 45 minutes, an hour. In minicamps we get three days with them and we’ll get to teach them some things and see how they apply it. We thought Kellen (Winslow) did a nice job given the fact that you get off a plane, you get into a meeting and a couple hours later you’re out on the field. I think all things considered, he did a pretty good job.

It’s about 6 weeks from here until training camp. You have to love how Idizk will not give out any hints on anything. Isn’t it refreshing? He gives off a very quiet confidence. We shall see how it translates as we move forward.