Jets' latest coaching hire creates full circle Rex Ryan family moment

The Jets' newest hire will bring a smile to longtime fans.

Charlie Baduini

Former New York Jets head coach Rex Ryan / Brad Penner-Imagn Images

The New York Jets continue to fill out their offensive staff under new offensive coordinator Frank Reich, and their latest hire should stir up some nostalgia for Jets fans.

New York is hiring Detroit Lions assistant offensive tight ends coach Seth Ryan as their new pass game coordinator, per ESPN's Rich Cimini, the son of former head coach Rex Ryan and grandson of defensive line coach Buddy Ryan.

Seth will be the third generation of the Ryan family to coach for the Jets, joining the Phillips and Shula families as multi-generational NFL coaches. The Ryans are the only ones to have all three generations coach for the same franchise.

Jets hire Seth Ryan, son of Rex Ryan, as new pass game coordinator

Ryan started in Detroit in 2021 on Anthony Lynn's offensive staff as an assistant wide receivers coach, the same position he played at Clemson from 2013 to 2016.

When Lynn was let go after the 2021 season, Ben Johnson was promoted to offensive coordinator, and he kept Ryan in the same position. Ryan held onto the role until 2025, when he was moved over to assistant tight ends coach, and he'll take his first position as a pass game specialist in New York.

Seth is the first Ryan to coach on the offensive side of the ball. Rex was famously a defensive-minded coach along with his father, Buddy. He coordinated the famous 1985 Chicago Bears defense and was later the head coach for the Philadelphia Eagles.

Hopefully, Seth can bring the same spunk and energy his dad brought to the Jets in 2009.

Ryan wasn't the only addition to the offensive staff the Jets made; it was also reported by NFL Network's Omar Ruiz that former Pittsburgh Steelers tight ends coach Alfredo Roberts will coach the same position in New York.

It's the second hire from Mike Tomlin's former Steelers staff the Jets have made, joining defensive line coach Karl Dunbar.

The Jets continuing to pluck from more successful organizations is promising, and the hope is that New York's coaching staff will be much improved from the one that got cleaned out in January.

In an interview with Boomer Esiason on Cimini's podcast, Flight Deck, Esiason noted his close friend Reich is a big fan of Johnson, the former Lions OC. Ryan spent four seasons under him and hopes to bring some of those concepts to New York.

Here's to hoping he'll pan out better than the last former Lions coach that the Jets hired, Tanner Engstrand.

Charlie Baduini

Charlie Baduini covers the New York Jets as a site expert for The Jet Press and FanSided. He is a sports journalist based in Northern New Jersey with a wide variety of sports reporting experience in print and broadcast journalism. Baduini’s byline can also be seen on Heavy and The Sporting News, where he covers several teams across the NFL and NBA. His work has been featured in Heavy, Athlon Sports, The Sporting News, Yahoo Sports, MSN, and Yardbarker. He also serves as a seasonal intern for ESPN, working as a production assistant for the Heisman Trophy Ceremony every year since 2022. Baduini has been a Jets fan for as long as he can remember, with his family's fandom dating back to the 1960s when his grandfather, Louis, became a season ticket holder. His family has since held on to the tickets to this day. He is an avid fan of the New York Knicks and New York Mets.