AP

Three years after more than a third of the NFL hired new head coaches, only two of those men remain on the job. One of them thinks they’ll both be sticking around for a while.

Specifically, Jets coach Rex Ryan predicts he and Lions coach Jim Schwartz will have their jobs well into the future.

“I think we have chance to be here for a long time,” Ryan said, via Anwar Richardson of MLive.com.

Not in their jobs for a long time were the nine coaches hired in 2009 and fired by 2012. They are/were Rams coach Steve Spagnuolo, Bucs coach Raheem Morris, Colts coach Jim Caldwell, Chiefs coach Todd Haley, Browns coach Eric Mangini, Seahawks coach Jim Mora, Broncos coach Josh McDaniels, Raiders coach Tom Cable, and 49ers coach Mike Singletary.

“It’s a tough business,” Ryan said. “There were a lot of excellent coaches let go. They’re several of them, and that’s unfortunate to see. I’m happy that Schwartz and I are still surviving, I guess. You’ve been an assistant coach, probably had a decent reputation as an assistant coach, waiting for that opportunity.

“Then when you do, you go in there with both barrels, and you’re going to be yourself, all that, and let the chips fall where they may.”

Helping Ryan and Schwartz are a trio of postseason berths between them. (Then again, Caldwell took the Colts to the Super Bowl.)

Like most if not all of Rex’s past predictions, there’s a good chance his latest one ultimately won’t come to fruition. The only constant in the NFL is change, and with 256 annual regular-season games featuring one winner and one loser (but for tie games), there will be good teams and bad teams and the bad teams eventually will feel compelled to seek a kick start toward being good.