By Jim Scott
DNAinfo Senior Editor
MANHATTAN — Rex Ryan better cover up his giant gut before the cameras start rolling.
The New York Jets and their media-friendly head coach will be featured in HBO's documentary series "Hard Knocks" this summer the cable network announced Thursday.
The show follows an NFL team through training camp in July and August, usually focusing on veteran players and rookies attempting to make the squad. The Cincinnati Bengals, Kansas City Chiefs and Dallas Cowboys have all been featured in recent years.
With a roster full of colorful characters and camera-friendly faces, the Jets are the perfect candidate for the series.
Oft-quoted head coach Rex Ryan will likely be a centerpiece of the summer production. Ryan has become a media darling in the Big Apple with his self-deprecating sense of humor and success on the field during his rookie season as Jets coach.
"We have our Brad Pitt, George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg and Rex Ryan," HBO Sports President Ross Greenburgh joked Thursday.
The heavy-set Ryan made news off the field when his belly was caught on camera while he was changing his shirt at a hockey game in South Carolina in February. He also was in the headlines in Miami earlier that month after pictures surfaced on the Internet of him flipping off Miami Dolphins fans at an mixed martial-arts match.
The 47-year-old coach also had surgery on his stomach as part of a weight-loss procedure on March 13.
Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez is also no stranger to the limelight. The California-raised Sanchez was featured on a few magazine covers and appeared in several commercials during his up-and-down rookie season.
Outspoken linebacker Bart Scott and newly acquired running back LaDainian Tomlinson are also prime candidates for the HBO crews to follow.
Scott backed up his brash trash-talking on the field and made an immediate impact on defense for the Jets in 2009. Tomlinson will be playing his first season in New York after rushing for almost 12,500 yards and 138 touchdowns in nine seasons with the San Diego Chargers.
The Jets are expected to travel back to upstate New York for training camp in late July.
New York, which lost in the AFC Championship game this season, has not won a Super Bowl since a Joe Namath-led Jets team won Super Bowl III in 1969.
HBO has featured six teams on "Hard Knocks" since it first chronicled the Baltimore Ravens during training camp in 2001. No team has ever won a Super Bowl after appearing in the series.
