You can't tell the (still relatively brief) story of the Houston Texans without referencing coach DeMeco Ryans.
The then-4-year-old Texans drafted Ryans in the second round of the 2006 draft, when they were still a young team fighting for legitimacy. Ryans—star of Alabama's 2005 team, its last great pre-Nick Saban squad—instantly injected life into Houston's defense, and was named the ’06 AP Defensive Rookie of the Year. Two Pro Bowl appearances followed in the years to come.
Now, Ryans has helmed a wholesale turnaround in his first year as Houston's head coach. The Texans, 3-13-1 in 2022, are now 10–7 and a Jacksonville Jaguars loss away from a division title.
