Rex Ryan Has Reportedly Known All Season About Jets' Plans to Fire Him

New York Jets head coach Rex Ryan has endured a turbulent tenure in the Big Apple. Ryan was on the hot seat even before the 2014 season, in which the Jets have fallen to 2-9 following Monday's 38-3 loss to the Buffalo Bills.

Even though Ryan has maintained an unwavering, positive outlook when addressing the press, he's reportedly been resigned to a doomed fate all year long. According to the New York Post's Mark Cannizzaro, Ryan has known all season that general manager John Idzik would fire him at year's end.

Here are the primary details:

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Sources told The Post that, during the offseason, Ryan bumped into scouts and other coaches from around the league who told him Jets general manager John Idzik had been telling people his plan all along was to replace Ryan after the season and bring in his own head coach.

'Did he think that wasn’t going to get back to me?' an angered Ryan told one confidant.

All year, Ryan has been exasperated by the deficiency of talent Idzik has given him — particularly at cornerback, which is the most crucial position on his defenses.

Through it all, he has remained a company man and kept those frustrations to himself, instead actually praising some of the ill-fated moves Idzik has made.

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Idzik has faced his fair share of criticism for building a lackluster roster. One glaring weakness New York has had in Ryan's time with the team is the lack of a franchise quarterback. It appears Idzik missed badly on 2013 second-round draft pick Geno Smith to address the perpetual issue under center.

If this report is indeed true, it just goes to further confirm that Idzik stacked the deck against Ryan by not pursuing top-tier personnel. As Cannizzaro noted, the Jets are more than $20 million under the salary cap this season, which "was a clear message to Ryan there was not a strong commitment to win during a year in which Ryan knew he had to win to keep his job."

As far as when he'll receive his pink slip, Ryan has publicly said that he'll be allowed to finish the year, via Fox Sports 1's Mike Garafolo:

Bleacher Report AFC North Lead Writer Andrea Hangst believes Ryan will be successful for a different team in the event that he leaves New York at the end of the season:

The discord between the Jets' front office and coach has to be alarming for any candidate who considers replacing Ryan—presuming Idzik still holds onto his job beyond this year and that Ryan is let go.

Smith has also proved to be a volatile personality, as has the Jets' most talented playmaker, wide receiver Percy Harvin, who Idzik traded for in the middle of the season.

Whoever is in charge in 2015 and beyond, this Jets mess needs to be fixed through better drafting, a stronger push to land marquee free agents and a coach and GM on the same page. The lack of positive results in all three of those areas has contributed to Ryan's decline from two AFC Championship Game appearances to start his New York stint to a lost 2014 season.