CORTLAND – Rex Ryan’s phone buzzed on Monday night after news broke that his son Seth, a redshirt freshman wide receiver at Clemson, had broken his collarbone.
The text was from former Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez, asking for Seth’s phone number. Ryan said it was the first text he received about Seth’s injury.
Ryan drafted Sanchez with his first draft pick as the Jets coach in 2009. The two were very close, but that relationship was strained a bit last year when Ryan put Sanchez into the fourth quarter of a preseason game against the Giants and Sanchez suffered a season-ending injury.
Sanchez, now with the Eagles, has said he holds no ill will toward Ryan. Sanchez and Seth actually formed a bond during Sanchez’s first season with the Jets when the quarterback used to attend Seth’s freshman football games on Friday afternoons at Summit High School.