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Even before word emerged that the Falcons had interviewed in-house minority candidate Keith Armstrong, the word was trickling out that Rex Ryan’s Tuesday interview with Atlanta could spark the 2015 hiring process.

Now that the path has been cleared via the Armstrong interview to hire anyone, don’t be shocked if Ryan becomes the head coach in Atlanta not long after he talks to the Falcons.

This assumes that the interview will go well enough to make the Falcons want Ryan, and that it will go well enough for Ryan to want the Falcons.

The Falcons should want Ryan, given what he can do with a defense that desperately needs a kick in the butt. Ryan should also want the Falcons, since they have a franchise quarterback and a pair of guys who helped Bill Belichick put together a team that won three Super Bowls in New England.

So six years after Ryan declared upon becoming head coach of the Jets that he doesn’t plan to kiss Belichick’s rings, maybe Ryan will land in a situation where he can win one or two of his own.

And if the Falcons pluck Ryan off the unemployment line, look for some of these other coaching searches to heat up as teams get nervous that their preferred candidates may soon be gobbled up by someone else.