On Saturday the Saints made it official and hired Rob Ryan as their new Defensive Coordinator. Sean Payton has a habit of hiring DC’s that beat him (Williams, Spagnuolo) in the past. If you remember the thumping the Saints took in 2010, you can see why Payton chose Ryan for the job. Although Romeo Crennel may have been the better choice, he stands to make more money staying at home since the Chiefs still owe him $3.2 million a season for the next two years if he doesn’t coach a play.

I really think Payton did not like his defense being the all time worst in NFL history so making a clean break from Spagnuolo and the 4-3 base defense was needed. If you remember when the Saints were known for being a defensive minded team with the Dome Patrol, it was in the 3-4 defense. While Ryan won’t have to go out and win games with a QB like Drew Brees at the helm, Ryan is expected to create turnovers and get the opposing side’s offense off the field.

It won’t be an easy road for Ryan because not only are the Saints in need of quality players at the cornerback, outside linebacker, defensive end (opposite Cam Jordan) and safety positions, they also have a number of players with inflated salaries on defense that will probably have to be released if they can’t restructure (Will Smith, Jonathan Vilma to name a few) their contracts. In addition to this, the Saints will be without a 2nd round draft pick due to the bounty incident. But don’t fret Saints fans, the Saints do have talent that I think was not used well last year. In order for the Saints defense to rebound from being the worst in history, players like Martez Wilson, Junior Galette,  and Akiem Hicks will have to step it up because they will be getting a lot more reps this season.

It will be interesting to see what the Saints do this offseason because there are a lot of holes to fill and not a lot of money to do it.

Well it didn’t take 5 minutes but maybe 8 minutes.  Adam Schefter reports that The New Orleans Saints plan to hire former Dallas Cowboys assistant coach Rob Ryan as their new defensive coordinator, according to league sources.

We’ll keep you posted at this story develops.

Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch has given us more insight as to why Rob Ryan was and now is not with the Rams. According to Thomas, Ryan had misgivings about coaching a 4-3 scheme without any defensive assistants of his hiring on the Rams’ staff.

“He wanted it to work, and I just think he realized over the weekend that it was not (a fit),” said a source familiar with Ryan, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “Rob was torn.”

 

Thomas reports that Ryan and his wife even attended at St. Louis Blues game but got cold feet over the weekend.

When reality set in and it was time to finalize things with the Rams, it was a case of: “This is not my defense. This is not going to be my staff.”

I think it was smart of Ryan to back out of the deal.  Taking a job where you can’t hire any of your staff AND switching to another defense almost sounds like employment suicide and could possibly make it his last coaching position.

If Ryan can’t find a position soon, he may have to take the Lovie Smith route and sit out 2013.

It took a little longer than five minutes but not that much as the Rams selected Rob Ryan as their new Defensive Coordinator.  Ryan with the Rams is a good fit. They have a couple standouts on D like rookie sensation Janoris Jenkins, Courtland Finnegan, James Laurinaitis, Jo-Lonn Dunbar.

photo: Fox Sports

Greg Rosenthal reports that the Dallas Cowboys have fired Rob Ryan after two years as Defensive Coordinator. It’s odd that the first person to go was Ryan but owner Jerry Jones wanted to shake up the organization. The Cowboys were 19th in the league in defense in 2012. Losing rising start linebacker Sean Lee did hurt the defense a lot but this was a bad firing in my opinion.  I’m sure Ryan will be hired as a DC by some team in the next couple of months.