Jets interview Ron Rivera for head coaching job and ESPN analyst Louis Riddick for GM vacancy

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. (AP) — The New York Jets interviewed former Washington and Carolina coach Ron Rivera on Thursday, the first known head coaching candidate to meet with the team.

ESPN analyst and former NFL safety Louis Riddick also interviewed with the team for their general manager vacancy. Riddick, who previously worked in the front offices of Washington and Philadelphia, is the fourth known GM candidate to meet with the Jets.

Rivera went 26-40-1 during a four-year stint with the Commanders, leading Washington to the playoffs during his first season with the team in 2020. He was fired last January after a 4-13 season.

Rivera, who turns 63 next Tuesday, is the only coach in NFL history to have led teams with losing records to the playoffs more than once, having done so with Carolina (7-8-1) in 2014 and Washington (7-9) in 2020.

He led the Panthers to the postseason four times during his tenure in Carolina from 2011 to 2019, including a Super Bowl appearance in the 2015 season when the team went 15-1 in the regular season and eventually lost to Denver in the title game.

Nicknamed “Riverboat Ron” for his aggressive decisions on the field, Rivera has a career record of 105-108-2, including 3-5 in the playoffs.

He played in 137 games, including 56 starts, during a nine-year playing career with Chicago where he was a linebacker on the Bears team that won the Super Bowl during the 1985 season behind its exceptional "46" defense under coach Mike Ditka and coordinator Buddy Ryan.

Rivera served as an assistant for the Chargers and Bears before becoming a head coach.

The Jets fired coach Robert Saleh on Oct. 7 and have gone 2-9 under interim coach Jeff Ulbrich. Former Jets coach Rex Ryan is also among those expected to interview with the team.

New York, which fired Joe Douglas in November, has also interviewed Senior Bowl executive director Jim Nagy, former Atlanta Falcons GM Thomas Dimitroff and former Tennessee Titans GM Jon Robinson for the GM job.

The 55-year-old Riddick joined ESPN in 2013 and serves as an NFL and college football analyst on the network and ABC. He interviewed with Detroit and Houston for their GM openings during the 2020 offseason.

Riddick, a ninth-round pick by San Francisco in the 1991 draft out of Pittsburgh, had 155 tackles and two sacks during six NFL seasons with the Falcons, Browns and Raiders.

___

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL