Houston Sports - DeMeco Ryans

DeMeco Ryans

Born: July 28, 1984

Sport: Football (All-American, Defensive Rookie of the Year, 2-time Pro Bowl, 2-time All Pro, 21-17 coaching record)

This week was bittersweet for Houston sports fans as our beloved Astros missed out on the playoffs for the first time in 8 years, and the Rockets announced starting PG Fred VanVleet will likely miss the entire upcoming season after tearing an ACL, but at least the Houston Texans finally got their first win of the year.  I was going to do a post on someone who had ties to Houston and the team we beat, the former Oilers and current division rival Tennessee Titans, but then I decided that the spotlight should stay on the home team.  After all, why pay attention to the franchise that we just beat down 26-0, our first shutout win since 2010?  So this week seems like a great time to look at the history of the man currently serving as the head coach of the Texans, DeMeco Ryans, and understand why his playing career meant he was such a popular pick to take over the position two years ago.  Oh yeah, and he was on the field for that 2010 shutout as well that just happened to be against (you guessed it) the Tennessee Titans.

Houston's Reliant Stadium in 2006

Born on the outskirts of Birmingham, Alabama, in the suburb of Bessemer, DeMeco Ryans was raised by his mother, Martha Ryans.  In a town built on steel, she was a hard-working employee that held numerous jobs to keep her family afloat, including building automotive parts and cleaning her church.  Young DeMeco watched her drive and determination, learning his incredible work ethic while also having a dream to provide for the woman who sacrificed so much for him.  Although he was athletic, starring in both baseball and football during his high school years, he also excelled in the classroom with a 4.0 GPA before selecting the University of Alabama for his collegiate career.  The Crimson Tide had a demanding football tradition, but DeMeco continued to shine on and off the field during his four years on campus.  During Ryans' freshman year in 2002, head coach Dennis Franchione was let go despite coming off a 10-3 season, and Mike Shula took his place.  The son of NFL coaching legend Don Shula arrived with high expectations, and Ryans became a big part of the success he had.  As a freshman, he was limited to backup linebacker and special teams duties, but his hard work resulted in steady improvement.  By his senior season in 2005, Ryans was not only leading Alabama's defense by recording 76 tackles and five sacks, numbers that saw him chosen as the SEC Defensive Player of the Year, but he also showed his tremendous character in numerous ways.  He pledged his per diem for relief efforts after Hurricane Katrina devastated much of the Gulf Coast and also was a vocal leader in the locker room by encouraging his teammates to be mature and clean up after themselves.  Ryans was honored with a first-team All-American selection, first team all-SEC, and Cotton Bowl defensive MVP, while also being chosen for the Lott IMPACT Trophy (standing for Integrity, Maturity, Performance, Academics, Community, and Tenacity).  Proving he was not a dumb jock, Ryans also graduated with honors, earning his bachelor's degree from Alabama a semester ahead of schedule.

When the 2006 NFL Draft was held, DeMeco Ryans had elevated his stock significantly during his senior year and was selected by the Houston Texans with the first pick of the second round.  It was the highest selection for a linebacker in nine years, and the young franchise quickly moved their star rookie from outside linebacker to middle linebacker, a position known as the quarterback of the defense.  Ryans performed well leading up to the season, and in the first game he recorded a dozen solo tackles.  By season's end he led the league in solo tackles with 126, outpacing the second-highest rookie by 31, and was second overall in total tackles with 156.  Ryans even managed to outshine fellow defensive rookie Mario Williams, who the Texans had taken with the first overall pick, by winning the league's Defensive Rookie of the Year award and earning a first-team All-Pro selection, although both players were very instrumental in helping reverse the fortunes of the franchise under new head coach Gary Kubiak.  During his second season, Ryans continued to shine by making his first Pro Bowl and earning second-team All-Pro honors.  Also important for the team-first Ryans, the Texans finished the 2007 campaign with an 8-8 record, which was the first time in team history that they did not have a losing record.  With Williams and Ryans on defense and QB Matt Schaub developing his chemistry with WR Andre Johnson on offense, the Texans soon began to be noticed around the league.  The 2009 campaign saw the franchise's first winning record at 9-7, enough for a second-place finish in the division but not enough for a playoff spot, and Ryans helped guide newcomer Brian Cushing to his own Defensive Rookie of the Year award.  Unfortunately, after a promising start to 2010 Ryans suffered his first major injury, rupturing and Achilles tendon and missing the final 10 games of the season as things fell apart and the Texans regressed back to just six wins.  But help came in the person of J.J. Watt, who made a huge impact in the 2011 season as the Texans won their division for the first time and won their first-ever playoff game.  Watt held Ryans in such high regard that he purchased his first Houston home in the same neighborhood as the defensive captain.

After having a taste of the postseason but believing they had a surplus of defensive talent, the Texans opted to trade away DeMeco Ryans prior to the 2012 season.  The Philadelphia Eagles needed playmakers on the defensive side of the ball and welcomed Ryans into a leadership role on their team immediately.  He performed well but the team struggled, due largely to an injury to QB Michael Vick, leading to Andy Reid being replaced by new head coach Chip Kelly.  Under the new system in 2013, Ryans recorded his best stats since his rookie season and the Eagles returned to playoff form, but it would be the last significant year for Ryans.  After starting a promising 2014 campaign, both Ryans and QB Nick Foles (who, coincidentally, had been selected with one of the picks involved in the trade that brought Ryans from Houston to Philadelphia) were injured in a game in Houston against the Texans.  For Ryans, it was another torn Achilles and another disappointing season of surgery and rehab.  After a substandard 2015 season, Ryans was cut by the Eagles and his NFL playing career was over.  He was involved in a lawsuit against the Texans, team owners, and the city's sports authority about the condition of the field of what was then known as NRG Stadium, which was eventually dropped (and assumed to have been settled out of court) in 2021.  Within a year of hanging up his cleats, however, Ryans was back in the league.  Robert Saleh, who had been on the Texans defensive staff during DeMeco's time in Houston, had become San Francisco's defensive coordinator and hired the former linebacker to be his defensive quality control coach.  Alongside Saleh and rookie head coach Kyle Shanahan, Ryans got to work turning around a 49ers team that had ranked dead last in defensive scoring and yards allowed.  Progress was slow, as evidenced by their 0-9 start to the 2017 season, but eventually they found a good quarterback and their scheme took shape.  Ryans got promoted to linebackers coach in 2018 and by 2019, the 49ers were an elite team that made it all the way to the Super Bowl.  In 2021, Saleh was hired away to become the head coach of the New York Jets, and Ryans was promoted to take his spot as defensive coordinator.  His success during his first season led to an interview for the vacant head coaching position with the Minnesota Vikings, but he declined a second round follow-up to stay in San Francisco.  The 2022 season saw his unit rank as the top defensive team in the NFL, and Ryans was voted the Assistant Coach of the Year.  With nothing else to prove as a defensive coordinator, he decided it was time to make his move to become a head coach.  Many Houston fans didn't think they had a chance to land the highly-coveted defensive guru as their head coach, due in large part to the potential for conflict with Texans ownership.  After original owner Bob McNair had died in 2018, the team's leadership had been in flux with questions about whether his widow or son was really making decisions, and with four different coaches replaced in four seasons.  That, in addition to the lawsuit that had involved the two parties, made it a happy surprise when Ryans announced that he would accept the Texans position rather than pursue other suiters including Denver, Carolina, and Indianapolis.  Alongside rookie QB C.J. Stroud, Ryans stormed into his first season as head coach with a 10-7 record and a playoff win, before doing exactly the same in his second season.  Time will tell if he's able to improve on that mark in the future, but Houston fans are certainly hopeful that the Texans under DeMeco Ryans can help us all start to once again enjoy the results of our hometown teams.

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