Rex Ryan admits he fed broadcasters ‘so much crap’ in production meetings

Rex Ryan made a surprising admission on Sunday NFL Countdown about how he’s handled production meetings throughout his coaching career.

While discussing the Tom Brady conflict of interest dilemma that’s been the subject of NFL media scrutiny this week, the former Jets and Bills head coach revealed that he had deliberately misled broadcasters he didn’t trust during weekly production meetings.

“There’s plenty of times — it’s not just Tom Brady — if there’s somebody you don’t trust that’s actually earned that reputation, that this is a guy you can’t trust, I would feed that guy so much crap it was unbelievable,” Ryan said. “‘We’re going to do this.’ We’re going to be doing the exact opposite.”

Rex Ryan claims he used to feed “crap” to announcers he didn’t trust in production meetings. pic.twitter.com/HDhZh8XMiY

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 21, 2025

Production meetings happen every week during the NFL season. Broadcasters meet with head coaches, coordinators, and key players to prepare for their telecasts. Ryan explained how coaches, in his experience, attempted to control these interactions.

“You control the narrative,” Ryan said. “As a coach, every single week, I don’t know if fans know it, but every single week, you have a production meeting. So, the head coach goes in, the offensive coordinator, the defensive coordinator, and selected players, generally the quarterback. And so, you control the message.”

Ryan’s comments come as Brady faces renewed scrutiny over his dual role as Fox’s lead NFL analyst and Raiders minority owner. Brady was seen wearing a headset in the Raiders’ coaching booth during Monday Night Football. ESPN’s Peter Schrager reported Brady discusses game plans with the Raiders’ offensive coordinator, Chip Kelly, multiple times a week.

Former Raiders coach Antonio Pierce confirmed on SiriusXM that Brady shared information with him last season. “You’d be foolish enough to think that he’s not gonna share that with the Raiders because we had those conversations about certain things,” Pierce told Adam Schein. “He was very informative about things that he knew or he felt.”

Pierce also admitted he’d be cautious if the situation were reversed.

“I would be nervous,” Pierce said. ” I think I would be tight-lipped, which I think most head coaches are when they go into production meetings.”

Stephen A. Smith suggested this week that teams should give Brady false information during production meetings.

Turns out some coaches, like Rex Ryan, have already been doing that with broadcasters they don’t trust.

Ryan explained how he coached his players to handle these meetings, telling them they didn’t have to answer every question and could simply decline if they were uncomfortable. He said most broadcasters can be trusted and are just trying to make a better production for the league.

But Ryan also made it clear that coaches control the message in these meetings, and that worrying about what broadcasters might learn shouldn’t be a team’s biggest concern.

“If you speaking to the media guys is the biggest concern, you have bigger issues as a team,” Ryan said.

Not every coach shares Pierce’s concerns about Brady. Brian Schottenheimer said there are no secrets in the NFL anyway and had no issues meeting with Brady before Dallas plays Chicago this week. Ben Johnson was equally dismissive, pointing out that Brady can figure out everything he needs from film study alone.

But the optics of Monday night struck a nerve with some. Rodney Harrison, who won three Super Bowls with Brady in New England, said seeing his former teammate in the Raiders’ coaching booth made him “very uncomfortable.” Harrison explained on NBC’s Football Night in America that broadcasters get access to all kinds of behind-the-scenes information that the average fan has no idea about. He worried Brady could use insights about team-building philosophy or player evaluations when making Raiders personnel decisions.

The NFL relaxed Brady’s broadcasting restrictions this season after barring him from production meetings entirely last year. Now he can participate remotely, though he still can’t visit team facilities. The league maintains Brady did nothing wrong by being in the Raiders’ booth.

But regardless of what the league says, Rex Ryan’s admission suggests it won’t matter. Coaches already know how to handle broadcasters they don’t trust. They’ve been doing it for years.