Rex Ryan arrested over hit-and-run crash in Nashville’s tourist district
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Former NFL coach and ESPN analyst Rex Ryan has been arrested after allegedly wounding two pedestrians in a hit-and-run crash.
Two people were crossing a main street in downtown Nashville‘s popular tourist area and had the right of way when Ryan turned at a red light and ran over their feet, police said Wednesday.
The pedestrians, who suffered minor injuries, told police that they waved Ryan down at the next red light and he stepped out to argue with them. They snapped a photo of the driver and the license plate on the vehicle, according to police.
The incident happened last week, according to Nashville police. Ryan, a football analyst, turned himself in at Nashville’s Downtown Detention Center earky Wednesday.
He faces six misdemeanor charges including two counts of leaving the scene of an accident, two counts of failure to give information or render aid and two counts of failure to obey a traffic control signal, according to court records.
A judicial commissioner set Ryan’s bond at $6,000, though he was released on non-financial conditions due to qualifying for pretrial release. He is scheduled to appear in court next month.
Ryan is best known these days for his work at ESPN as one of the analysts on the network’s NFL pregame show. He was on the network Sunday for the NFL pregame show and Monday for a morning show, both of which are taped in New York.
“We are aware and are in touch with Rex,” ESPN said in a statement Wednesday. An ESPN source told The Independent that the network that no decision on any possible disciplinary action has been made as information is still being gathered.
Ryan is a former head coach of the Buffalo Bills and New York Jets, leading the Jets to the AFC Championship Game in consecutive years after the 2009 and 2010 seasons. While with the Jets, Ryan became one of the team’s – and the NFL’s – most popular figures, especially during his first few seasons as coach, because of his brash, colorful approach in news conferences that became must-watch TV.
He has not coached since being fired by the Bills with one game left in the 2016 season, though he has since expressed an interest in coaching and interviewed in 2025 for the Jets’ head coaching vacancy when Aaron Glenn was hired.
His father, the late Buddy Ryan, was an NFL coaching legend who famously coordinated the 1985 Chicago Bears defense that was one of the best in history. Seth Ryan, one of Rex Ryan’s two sons, is currently in his first season as the Jets’ passing game coordinator.
