Houston Texans head coach Demeco Ryans is a grand slam hire | You Pod to Win the Game

Yahoo Sports' Charles Robinson and Frank Schwab discuss the news that former San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator and ex-Pro Bowl Houston Texans linebacker Demeco Ryans has been hired to be the next head coach of the Houston Texans. Charles and Frank agree that Ryans is a perfect fit for Houston, who manage to not only acquire their top choice at head coach, but also reenergize a fanbase that desperately needed someone new to root for. Charles and Frank take a few of the items that must be high on Ryans' early to-do list, including acquiring a quarterback (the Texans hold the second overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft) and extending star left tackle Laremy Tunsil.

Video Transcript

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CHARLES ROBINSON: DeMeco Ryans hired by the Texans to be their head coach. This was the layup, I really felt. But because it is an ownership group that I don't think anyone can trust in Cal McNair, you just don't know if they're going to hit the bunny or not. I think they hit the bunny.

It was someone who wanted to be there, and I think that's a big deal to Texans fans. I've talked about Lions fans in this respect with Dan Campbell. And I think the Texans want someone where they're like, we know that guy. He was here. He balled out here. JJ Watt loves him. All the players around him love him. Andre Johnson loves him. It's the hire that makes sense for the first time in a while with the Texans.

It's a head coaching hire where nobody's standing around, scratching their head. Everybody's going, yeah, hey, it looks like they did-- not only is he the hot candidate, not only is he respected and done all these things and he comes from San Francisco-- and, by the way, the last defensive coordinator to come from San Francisco sure did a pretty good job in New York. Seems to have that culture turned around.

And oh, geez, the offensive guy to come out of San Francisco who went down to Miami, he sure seemed to turn that thing around. And the Kyle Shanahan tree is looking pretty good right now. All right, cool, let's bring DeMeco back in the fold.

FRANK SCHWAB: You know, I mean, the whole time we talked about DeMeco Ryans, I kind of said I don't want him to go to Houston because it's such a dead-end job. But this is the best move the Texans could have made. It reminds me of when Ron Rivera was hired by Washington where I just felt like Washington doesn't deserve a coach that good, but he's pretty much made it work. I mean, they haven't had great, great success, but he's brought an adult voice into the room and--

CHARLES ROBINSON: He's been steady.

FRANK SCHWAB: --changed the culture there.

CHARLES ROBINSON: He's been a steadying influence.

FRANK SCHWAB: Steady. Absolutely. And I think I've bought so much stock in DeMeco Ryans as a head coach. I think this guy is going to be a star. I hope he's a star. Everything points to the fact that this guy's a great leader. Everybody's on board with this. And the Houston Texans and their fans should be overjoyed over this.

For a franchise that needed some shot in the arm, this was not just hiring some anonymous coordinator who we're taking a shot on. This was DeMeco Ryans, a guy who starred in Houston, who had ties, who wanted to be there. And that's a huge deal, like you said. You got to love the hire from the Texans.

I hope it works. I hope that they don't screw this up and make DeMeco Ryans the next failed head coach because the ownership and the culture there are so bad. But I like it. You can't help but give the Texans an A here. They got so lucky that when it happened to be that they needed a coach, after firing a one and done for the second straight--

CHARLES ROBINSON: It was on of their guys.

FRANK SCHWAB: --year, it was one of their guys. It was the hottest young assistant, other than maybe Harbaugh and Payton. The hottest young assistant on the market happened to have Houston ties and was like, I want to go there and rekindle what I had. Grand slam hire. I mean, we'll see how it plays out. But right now as we sit here on February 1st, could not have made a better hire for the Houston Texans.

CHARLES ROBINSON: Yeah, it kind of reminded me of-- I know it's a different tier-- but when all of a sudden, Michigan had to go get a coach. And Harbaugh, everything was going wrong in San Francisco. And I was like, man, how much are you lucking out that this guy who went to the Super Bowl on the NFL level, it's all falling apart between him and his general manager and the owner in San Francisco.

Now you, college program that who knows what else you might be able to get, you can actually go get Jim Harbaugh. This makes a lot of perfect sense in terms of someone who wants to be there and rebuild it. And that's what I think Ryans wants. I think he wants to be in Houston.

FRANK SCHWAB: What other coach could they have hired who would get the JJ Watt seal of approval? Of get excited, Texans fans, this guy is a leader and he's going to turn it around. Whoever else they would have-- Dan Quinn or whoever wouldn't have got that. And again, that might not matter but. It kind of does to energize a fanbase that has had to feel so beaten down the last few years there.

CHARLES ROBINSON: And he starts with the number-two pick in the draft--

FRANK SCHWAB: Yeah.

CHARLES ROBINSON: --which we'll see what Chicago does at one. If they stick, Jalen Carter out of Georgia, the big interior lineman, defensive lineman, looks like he'd probably be the pick there. But I think it would be a quarterback at two. I don't know if they get leapfrogged or whatever.

FRANK SCHWAB: I think it was. Colts number one. Colts are going number one.

CHARLES ROBINSON: Maybe. I mean, look--

FRANK SCHWAB: It's easy.

CHARLES ROBINSON: We'll see. I still think quarterback at two makes too much sense. It allows them, potentially, to keep Laremy Tunsil, to extend Laremy Tunsil. Because they could sit there and go, well, look, do we want to pay Laremy an insane amount of money as a left tackle in this league? Normally, we would say no, except we're going to draft a quarterback, and he is now going to protect him.

And the quarterback's going to be on a rookie deal. So, yeah, let's go ahead and pay Laremy for the next three, four years at the top of the tackle market because not only is he going to protect our guy and keep him upright, which we have not always done historically with quarterbacks, he plays great in the run.

He did get paid once already, and he's excelled. Particularly this year, he really has excelled and bought in. I think for the Texans and for Houston, they're happy.

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