For their annual midseason players poll, Sporting News asked 103 players of 27 teams who the league's most overrated coach was. The AFC East was a target.
New York Jets coach Rex Ryan ran away with it, getting voted most-overrated by 36 players. Second place? New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick with 16 votes. (Photo: Marianne O'Leary)
Belichick's place on the list is a bit of a head-scratcher given his insane amount of success as a head coach: three Super Bowl championships and five Super Bowl appearances, on top of countless other accolades. Plus, the players voted the Patriots as "the best organization in football." Figure that one out.
The only argument that could be made is that despite his broad background in defensive coaching, his defenses over the past few years have been mostly bad.
As for Ryan, his spot atop the poll is likely due to the Jets' high visibility on sports television networks despite their struggles the last two years. It's no surprise players would vote that way, especially since he's pretty much one-dimensional and not very involved in the offense.
However, Ryan's coaching ability on the defensive side of the ball may actually be more overlooked than overrated because of the way he portrays himself in the media.
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