Rex Ryan Is Inspired Choice from Bills but Comes with an Asterisk

The search is over for the Buffalo Bills. Former New York Jets lead man Rex Ryan is slated to become the 18th coach in team history, per ESPN's Adam Schefter.

Just 12 days after Doug Marrone opted out of his contract and left the position vacant, Ryan was the man the brass in Buffalo nabbed to become his replacement.

Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News was the one who first reported that the deal would be worth $27.5 million over a five-year period.

The hire comes as a bit of a surprise. All the conversation surrounding Ryan seemed to be focused on him heading to Atlanta to take control of the Falcons. 

After news broke of Ryan's impending move to Buffalo, Mehta provided some context about the situation:

Atlanta's loss may very well be Buffalo's gain.

With Ryan in charge, the Bills are getting one of the top defensive minds in football. His creativity on that side of the ball can only enhance a Buffalo defense that ranked fourth in the NFL in 2014 under defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz.

Speaking of Schwartz, it will be interesting to see how that marriage between him and Ryan plays out, assuming he stays with the team next season.

Vic Carucci of The Buffalo News mentioned on Twitter that Ryan would have no problem keeping him around, despite the fact that Schwartz runs a 4-3, while Ryan has traditionally been a 3-4 type of guy:

That Schwartz narrative is intriguing. But that will be child's play compared to the quarterback predicament Ryan is walking into.

Once again, he will be a head coach in the AFC East without a quarterback. Kyle Orton's retirement and EJ Manuel's dismal play in some respects are as bad as the situation he left back in New York.

In order to help find a solution there, Ryan has brought former San Francisco 49ers offensive coordinator Greg Roman along for the ride, per Schefter:

Roman made a name for himself over the years building the 49ers offense with then-head coach Jim Harbaugh.

Whether Ryan and Roman decide to keep Manuel around or go after a long-term solution during the upcoming draft, remember Buffalo doesn't have a first-round pick at this juncture. It traded that selection away in order to land Sammy Watkins last May.

Don Feria/Getty Images

All of this uncertainty at quarterback brings up one important question: Can Ryan escape the ghosts of his past?

His six-year term with the Jets was dismantled by all the turmoil under center. That rotation of Mark Sanchez, Geno Smith and Michael Vick never amounted to anything more than heartache and trouble.

Duane Burleson/Associated Press

In Buffalo, Ryan will get a chance to redeem himself and hopefully discover the team's first quality signal-caller since Jim Kelly left for Canton, Ohio, in 1996.

Inspired is a good word to use when you talk about Ryan. Despite posting a 46-50 record with the Jets, he always came across as a player's coach—a guy who could motivate his team no matter how bad things got.

When the Jets canned him, NJ.com's Darryl Slater put together a collection of Rex's former players saying their heartfelt goodbyes him.

Compare that to Marrone and how Bills players felt when he suddenly left the team, and it's clear that Ryan should be able to inspire the troops from the moment he walks in the door.

Speaking of inspired, Watkins was one of the first Bills players to react on Instagram about the news:

Bills fans should be excited about this change. As we talked about earlier, Ryan's strength is his creativity on defense. He broke up the Jets and turned them into a team that matched up well with the New England Patriots.

The Jets may have gone 4-9 against the Patriots with Ryan as their coach—including postseason duels—but those teams always played the Pats tough. In 2014 alone, Ryan's squad lost by a combined three points in its two battles with Tom Brady and coach Bill Belichick.

Bills fans would take that any day of the week. Since 2004, the Bills have only beaten the Patriots two times.

Above anything else, hiring Rex Ryan is a move to ensure success within the division. He's a coach who's familiar with the AFC East and everything it has to offer. Assuming he can fix the quarterback situation, the Jets, Miami Dolphins and Patriots should all be in for a monumental challenge.

As ESPN Stats & Information highlighted, Ryan and the great Bill Parcells now have something in common:

Let the excitement begin. Doug Marrone is out, and Rex Ryan is in with a chip on his shoulder. It's fun to speculate, but Ryan has to prove that he was the right hire. 

Unless noted otherwise, all game scores and information come courtesy of ESPN.com.