RYANS HOPE

Texans HC - DeMeco Ryans

It's the end of another football season in Houston, TX and that can only mean one thing. The soap opera that is the Texans must be looking for a new head coach. The Texans go through head coaches like Delia Ryan goes through affairs. Yeah, I googled it. Never watched Ryan's Hope in my life.

Firing Bill O'Brien 4 games into the 2020 season, the Texans were searching for a HC in the 2021 off-season. They somehow ended up with David Culley, a 27 year position coach who never advanced to coordinator, thus was absolutely on no one's radar. After the 2021 season they fired Culley and started another HC in the 2022 off-season. After another disastrous search they ended up with Lovie Smith, also on no one's radar for a head coaching gig. After the 2022 season which saw the Texans win just 3 games, 1 fewer than what Culley had won, the Texans fire Lovie, and here we are in the 2023 off-season looking for a HC ... again.

Unlike the last 2 HC searches that couldn't have been screwed up any worse than how the Texans screwed them up if you tried, this year's search actually seemed like a real professional HC search. Every candidate they interviewed was not only qualified, but were also being pursued by others. No Culley's or guys with no coaching experience at any level of football whatsoever like Josh McCown. And on the last day of January the dust settles once again for the Texans as they make yet another HC hire.

DeMeco Ryans becomes the 6th HC of the Houston Texans.

Ryans was drafted by the Texans in the 2nd round (33rd overall) in the 2006 draft. He led the NFL in tackles his rookie season and was named Defensive Rookie of the Year. Ryans was named to the Pro Bowl twice. His career in Houston lasted just 6 seasons. He was traded to the Eagles in March of 2012, where he played the remainder of his career as a player, which was just 4 more seasons.

In 2017 the San Farncisco 49ers hired Ryans as a Defensive Quality Control coach. The following season and 2 more after that, he was promoted to Inside Linebackers coach. In 2021 he received another promotion to Defensive Coordinator, a position he's held the last 2 seasons. This past season, Ryans' defense was #1 in the NFL.

There's no doubt about Ryans' leadership on the defensive side of the ball, but he's not coming to the Texans to be a DC. He's coming here to be HC and oversee it all. More often than not a hot coordinator gets a HC gig and struggles, gets fired and goes back to being a coordinator having the same kind of success again. It's a fact that some are better suited doing what they do best. And Ryans has only been on the coaching side for 6 seasons. But the leadership qualities are there for DeMeco as he was a captain while playing for the Texans, on a defense that got to #2 in the NFL in his last season with them. And after the 49ers lost the NFC Championship game last Sunday, several Niners players were as bummed about losing Ryans as they were about their season ending a game short of the Super Bowl.

As mentioned, Ryans' defense was #1 in the NFL this season. He comes to a Texans team that has been dead last in the NFL on defense for 2 straight seasons. I guess the question the next few weeks, as Ryans puts a staff together, is will he also wear the DC hat along with the HC hat, or will he bring in a DC to work with? Because as HC, defense is not the only thing DeMeco will have to focus on. The Texans have also had one of the worst offenses in the NFL, dead last and next to last the last 2 seasons. So he's definitely going to have to bring in an OC to right that side of the ball.

The Texans will have plenty of draft picks to try and help improve this roster, including the #2 overall pick. The consensus is that that pick will be a QB. New HC, new QB, let's marry them from the beginning and go. Of course, being a defensive guy, maybe he wants a defensive stud instead. It's the Texans, they need help everywhere. But I think the hiring of Ryans, a former Texans player and fan favorite, and a shiny new QB, would inject some much needed excitement into a fanbase that has become apathetic at best the last few years. The Texans will also have plenty of cap space available to sign free agents, and even though the Texans have been a disaster of a franchise the last few seasons, I think players would want to come play for DeMeco. At least defensive players anyway.

So DeMeco Ryans steps into a situation that has a ton of work to do just to become average. And not that it means much, but Ryans signed a 6 year contract, so hopefully we're not doing this again next January. Again, the next few weeks will have Ryans putting a staff together. And it's unclear if GM Nick Caserio will be hanging around. There's a possibility that Ryans could want someone from the Niners organization to work with at that capacity. We're still 3 months away from the draft and there's a lot of work to be done before then. But at least that work can finally begin, and maybe, just maybe, the Texans finally get it right this time.