PITTSFORD, N.Y. -- About 30 seconds after the Buffalo Bills announced their stunning decision to claim linebacker IK Enemkpali, head coach Rex Ryan walked to the podium in a news conference and spent six minutes talking about why he believed that Enemkpali -- who had just broken Geno Smith's jaw the day before with a locker room punch -- was deserving of a second chance.

Then he was asked a simple question: What was Enemkpali's account of the altercation in the New York Jets' locker room Tuesday?

"I have not talked to IK," Ryan bluntly revealed.

Heads turned and eyebrows raised at Ryan's admission, which called into question his assertions that Enemkpali would be successful with the Bills and accepted into their locker room. It was the exact opposite response of Todd Bowles' swift decision to release Enemkpali and another sign that Ryan is captaining the Bills' ship with an audacity that should unnerve even the team's most hardcore fans.

"I do have supreme confidence in myself, especially when I know the individual," Ryan said moments later. "Some of these guys that have these so-called issues or whatever, everybody’s got things. But if I know that person, and I feel confident in the fact that my locker room, that this guy will be successful in here, then yeah, I feel confident that he’ll fit right in."

A lot of players might "have things," but there isn't a player on the Bills' roster who had put his team's season in jeopardy a day earlier by punching his starting quarterback in the jaw, breaking it in two places.

Ryan said Enemkpali might not make the Bills' final roster -- partly because he could face discipline from the NFL -- and it's easy to say the Bills could cut him if he runs into any trouble with his new team.

But you have to wonder if the Jets -- then coached by Ryan -- thought the same when they spent a sixth-round pick on Enemkpali last season, three years after he was arrested for punching an off-duty cop at a bar in Ruston, Louisiana, and charged with battery on a police officer and disturbing the peace/drunk, according to court records.

Instead, Enemkpali -- who was ordered to take an anger-management course as part of his sentence for his assault charge in 2011 -- clearly didn't change, and now the Jets are without their starting quarterback for the next six to 10 weeks.

That's not to say that the Bills risk losing Matt Cassel, Tyrod Taylor or EJ Manuel because they claimed Enemkpali, but the Jets' current drama is proof that teams that give second chances to troubled players can't always back away from their decisions without collateral damage.

Ryan made it clear that general manager Doug Whaley and owners Terry and Kim Pegulas were showing faith in their head coach, already beloved in the city, by allowing the claim, saying Whaley is "leaning on him" in deciding to claim Enemkpali.

"I think [owner Terry Pegula] has confidence in our beliefs, and in this case, Doug is showing a lot of faith in me as well," Ryan said. "That we specifically, guys that have been with IK, believe that he can be successful here."

Yet in perhaps his boldest move since taking over the Bills, Ryan is sticking out his neck for one of his former players.

Let's hope he protects his jaw.