Since his 14-year playing career, all of which was with Pittsburgh, Hines Ward has bounced around quite a bit. He won Dancing With The Stars, made a cameo on The Walking Dead, became a studio analyst for NBC's primetime NFL coverage, and was also an occasional talking head on CNN. Alas, and most recently, he was the Player Relations Executive for the almost immediately doomed Alliance of American Football, which made it about two-thirds of the way through its inaugural year before folding up.
This is to say that he has some post-retirement pages on his resume, which he can now add to since ESPN is reporting that the New York Jets have hired him to be a full-time offensive assistant.
Prior to being hired, Ward spent time as one of the Jets' four Bill Walsh coaching interns. In training camp he worked with the team's receivers coach and he's set to continue working with that position group...which makes perfect sense since he was a Pro Bowl receiver for four straight seasons back when he played.
"I think that's a great addition for us," said head coach Adam Gase. "He's done a lot of really good things with that group, helping out with those guys. It's the right time for him. He's excited about the opportunity."
Jets receiver Robby Anderson piggybacked on those pretty routine sports quotes while adding a few of his own.
"He's a great resource because he's done it at a high level consistently," Anderson said. "He's a future Hall of Famer, so what more can I ask for? I'm picking his brain, and he's more so telling me than I'm asking him, and I'm just staying on top of him. He's just trying to find ways to get me better in each way."
Ward also won a pair of Super Bowls, including one in which he was the game's MVP. As for regular season totals, he had exactly 1,000 catches for 12,083 yards and 85 touchdowns.
