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Houston Texans Head Coach DeMeco Ryans Reaches Personal Milestone

The Houston Texans didn’t participate in training camp on Sunday and will return to the field shortly. But just because the team didn’t practice doesn’t mean nothing happened. Yesterday, head coach DeMeco Ryans turned 40.

It’s easy to forget anything in the modern news cycle, but Ryans was a bit of a player himself not too long ago. Born and raised in Alabama, Ryans played high school football at Jess Lanier and later finished his college career with the Crimson Tide. Ryans had a breakout season as a senior, recording five sacks, 11.5 tackles for a loss and an interception, earning All-America honors and the SEC Defensive Player of the Year award.

This helped Ryans get into the NFL, where he was selected in the second round of the draft (33rd overall) by Houston. He then played six years for the Texans, making 86 starts. Ryans played four more years for the Philadelphia Eagles before retiring after the 2015 season. In total, he played 140 games and made two Pro Bowls.

Shortly after, Ryans made his coaching debut with the San Francisco 49ers as a defensive quality control coach, eventually becoming the inside linebackers coach and finally defensive coordinator from 2021 to 2022.

Ryans did well enough in that job to land his first head coaching job at the game’s highest level last season with Houston. In his first year, Ryans immediately transformed the Texans. With a little help from C.J. Stroud, he turned what was a 3-13 bottom of the league into a scary 10-7 championship underdog. We’d say the rest is history, but he’s only just beginning.

Enough to make any 39-year-old feel incomplete. Happy belated birthday, coach!

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