Rex Ryan needs to make out a check.
The Jets coach was fined $50,000 by the team, a response to Ryan’s photographed act of flipping off fans in Sunrise, Fla., on Saturday. Ryan apologized for the gesture the next day, and Jets GM Mike Tannenbaum admonished his coach that day before the organization handed out its team-imposed punishment yesterday.
Ryan was at a mixed martial arts event Saturday night when, according to what Dolphins fan David M. Hildenbrand told The Post, some of Hildenbrand’s friends “said some things like, ‘Dolphins rule, Jets suck.’ ” According to Hildenbrand, the bold and loquacious Ryan then told the group to “go [bleep] yourselves” and flipped them off. Hildenbrand, who did not return a message left for him last night, photographed Ryan’s gesture.
The incident certainly has been embarrassing for Ryan, who signed a four-year, $11.6 million deal when he was hired last January.
Ryan will not receive an additional fine from the NFL.
Ryan is the face of the Jets franchise, and the first-year coach just finished a season during which he surprisingly carried Gang Green to the AFC title game, upsetting the Bengals and Chargers along the way.
Ryan is also the voice of the franchise, and during the season he consistently issued headline-worthy statements. Before the Jets’ wild-card playoff game against the Bengals, Ryan said he believed his team, the fifth seed in the AFC and the longest shot in the field to make the Super Bowl, should be the postseason favorite.
Ryan also mistakenly thought the Jets were out of the playoffs derby following their Week 15 loss to the Falcons at home. And, before the season, he antagonized Patriots coach Bill Belichick and Dolphins linebacker Channing Crowder.
“It was stupid and inappropriate,” Ryan said in his apology Sunday. “I wouldn’t accept that type of behavior from one of the coaches or players and it’s unacceptable from me. I apologize to the Jets organization, the National Football League and NFL fans everywhere.”
Tannenbaum’s statement said, “Rex showed extremely poor judgment and his conduct was inappropriate. He knows he was wrong, has apologized and we have accepted his apology.”
* A Jets spokesman confirmed yesterday that Mark Sanchez will go under the knife and have surgery on his left knee, though he is expected to be ready for training camp. The 23-year-old quarterback will undergo the operation sometime in the next several weeks. The Jets’ doctors will perform it.
Last week The Post reported that the Jets and Dr. James Andrews had recommended that Sanchez have the surgery. The signal-caller originally was hurt back at USC prior to the 2008-09 college season, his last as a Trojan.
* The Post also has learned that both the Jets and Darrelle Revis’ camp are interested in exploring a long-term contract this offseason, according to an NFL source. The discussions have not begun yet.
Revis is unquestionably the Jets’ best player and was runner-up in the Defensive Player of the Year voting. The 24-year-old cornerback has made the Pro Bowl in two of his three seasons.
mark.hale@nypost.com