Rex Ryan misses Jets’ final cuts to watch son’s first college game

New York Jets Coach Rex Ryan probably will be spending a lot of time this season defending his decisions to the local media.

He’s off to an early start after being criticized by the New York Daily News for not being in town for the team’s final cuts Saturday, instead attending his son’s first game as a Clemson football player, as well as tailgating festivities before kickoff.

“Almost all of our moves were made Friday evening, when I was here,” Ryan said during his Monday news conference. “Certainly I spoke with most of our guys that were released just like I’ve done every year. I was very aware of our situation.”

The Daily News column was written by Manish Mehta, who was taken to task by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie last week for his alleged role in a confrontation with Ryan during a postgame news conference.

In Monday’s column, Mehta states that Jets General Manager John Idzik and his confidantes were the ones who finalized cuts and made plans to put in waiver wire claims for other players Saturday.

While noting that Idzik did give Ryan permission to be away from the team Saturday, Mehta wrote: “Ryan’s actions clearly suggest that his sphere of influence within the building has been greatly diminished. He’s obviously taken a back seat to Idzik in the makeup of the roster.”

But Ryan’s comments suggest otherwise, that he simply had a rare opportunity to take part in an important day in his son’s life.

“This was an opportunity to go see my son play his first college game. I think played is probably not very accurate. I saw him stand there,” said Ryan, whose son Seth is a walk-on and never made it into the game. “But it was a great deal. Obviously, it’s not like I’m going to be able to go to another game. It just so happened I could make that one. It was a night game. That’s really what I did. I took advantage of it.

“I just played dad there for a day. That was a lot of fun.”

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