DeMeco Ryans is looking to build the Houston Texans from the ground up, and after a successful draft in April, early indications are that he is well underway with that task.
As the Texans conducted rookie minicamp May 12-13, there was a curiosity about Ryans’ minicamp with the Texans in 2006.
“17 years ago, [that’s] taking me back,” Ryans told reporters May 12. “You know what? I don’t remember rookie minicamp. I don’t remember much of rookie minicamp.”
Houston picked Ryans with the No. 33 overall pick in Round 2 from Alabama to bolster their linebacking corps. Though he couldn’t recollect the finer details of what he went through, the difference in physicality between the camps from then to now stood out to him more than anything else.
“I just remember overall just the spring practices, summer practices,” Ryans said. “I just remember for me, just how quick practices were, how physical they were, which we can’t get physical anymore.”
Two revisions to the collective bargaining agreement in 2011 and 2020 keep players out of pads and intentionally colliding with one another until training camp.
Even though Ryans was just in shorts and a helmet in 2006, the speed of the game was borderline overwhelming.
Said Ryans: “Like coming in, it was just a different speed, and I had to get acclimated quickly if I wanted to keep up. That was one thing I learned, to get rolling very quickly.”
Ryans is sure to emphasize speed in acclimation to his 2023 draft class, which is expected to play an outsized role for the Texans next season. Though players may not be allowed to make contact or wear pads like Ryans did during his playing days at this point in the offseason, the focus on learning and execution remains the same.
