Rex Ryan Surrendered on Six Misdemeanor Warrants. ESPN Has Said Nine Words About It.
Rex Ryan turned himself in at Nashville’s Downtown Detention Center early Wednesday morning. The charge sheet is longer than the statement his employer has put out about it.
Ryan, 63, surrendered on six outstanding misdemeanor warrants connected to an incident in downtown Nashville just before midnight on Thursday, Nov. 5, according to a Metropolitan Nashville Police Department release reported by ABC News. The counts: two for leaving the scene of an accident, two for failure to give information or render aid, and two for failure to obey a traffic control signal. All six are misdemeanors, per court records cited by the Associated Press. A judicial commissioner set bond at $6,000, and Ryan was released after qualifying for pretrial release.
What Police Say Happened
This part is an allegation and should be read that way. Police say two pedestrians were crossing Broadway from Fourth Avenue with the walk signal when a pickup truck turning right ran over both of their feet and struck one victim’s leg. The truck kept going. The pedestrians caught up to it at a red light a block away, at Broadway and Representative John Lewis Way.
“They said he stepped out of the truck to argue with them, got back in, and drove away,” police said in the account quoted by ABC News.
The pedestrians photographed the truck and its license plate. That plate is registered to Ryan. Their injuries were described by police as minor.
Pay attention to what that chain of evidence is. It runs from a license plate to a registered owner to a set of warrants. No outlet has reported an independent identification of Ryan as the driver beyond the photos those two pedestrians took. He has been charged. He has not been convicted, and no plea has been reported.
Nine Words From ESPN
Ryan has been an ESPN NFL analyst since 2017 and appears on Sunday NFL Countdown. Here is the network’s full response to Wednesday’s arrest: “We are aware and are in touch with Rex.”
That is all of it. No outlet has reported a suspension, a leave of absence, or any change to his on-air role, so as of now nothing has happened to his job beyond nine words of acknowledgment.
Ryan has not commented at all. The AP reported that a phone number believed to be his had an automatic outgoing message and that a message could not be left. Online court records do not list an attorney for him. ABC News said it contacted his agent and reported no response. His court appearance is scheduled for next month; WKRN in Nashville reported a Dec. 18 date, which no other outlet has confirmed.
The Coach Everybody Still Wants to Hire
Ryan went 46-50 in six seasons with the Jets from 2009 to 2014 and 4-2 in the playoffs, reaching the AFC Championship Game in each of his first two years. He remains the last coach to take the Jets to the postseason. Buffalo hired him in 2015, he went 15-16, and the Bills fired him before the end of the 2016 season. Career regular-season record: 61-66.
He has not coached in the NFL since. He keeps getting close. John Harbaugh talked to him about the Giants’ defensive coordinator job last offseason and said, per Ian O’Connor of The Athletic, “I talked to Rex about that job at length.” The Giants hired Dennard Wilson instead. Ryan interviewed for the Jets’ head coaching job in January 2025.
For nine years Ryan has been paid to have an opinion about everything that happens in football. The one time the story is about him, there is nothing on the record from his side at all.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
