The Dallas Cowboys will be changing defensive coordinators to Mike Zimmer, and it is now official.
However, even though the news was announced last week, it seems as though the Cowboys nearly changed their course at the 11th hour.
In an interview on The Pat McAfee Show earlier today, ESPN’s Adam Schefter said the Cowboys and former Vikings HC Mike Zimmer still had not finalized the deal for him to become Dallas’ next defensive coordinator.
Schefter also added that he could confirm Dallas reached back out to ESPN analyst Rex Ryan to see where he stood on the job.
The former head coach of the Jets and Bills interviewed for the Cowboys defensive coordinator job and noted on Sunday ahead of the Super Bowl that he wasn’t sure Zimmer was a lock for the job, despite last week’s report from Schefter.
In Ryan’s first two seasons with the Jets, he earned consecutive conference championship appearances during the 2009 and 2010 seasons, but it was all downhill from there.
Click on ‘Follow Us’ and get notified of the most viral NFL stories via Google! Follow Us
The former coach, who began working as an ESPN analyst in 2017, said he had reached out to Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy about taking on the role in Dallas.
“The reason I was out for seven years was I had never called another head coach,” Ryan said. “I called Mike McCarthy. The reason I did is because I want to be on this stage, if I’m going to get back into coaching, to have a chance at that.”
“I think with this roster the way it is, I think offensively and special teams and defense, I can be a little bit of an upgrade. The team could be right here. That’s why I was interested…This team, it is interesting, because they are so close to getting over that edge, and that’s why I think people would be interested in this job.”
Unfortunately for Ryan, we won’t get the opportunity to take the Cowboys to a Conference title game, as they have officially moved on from him and went with Zimmer.
During his eight years as Vikings head coach, Zimmer led the team to a record of 72-56-1 which includes three playoff appearances and one trip to the NFC Championship game in 2017.
