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Fred Warner Says DeMeco Ryans is "One of the Truest Leaders of Men"

The 49ers have been trying in vain to replace DeMeco Ryans since he left last year.
Grant Cohn|
Dec 21, 2024; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Houston Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans reacts after an injury to wide receiver Tank Dell (not pictured) during the second half against the Kansas City Chiefs at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images
Dec 21, 2024; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Houston Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans reacts after an injury to wide receiver Tank Dell (not pictured) during the second half against the Kansas City Chiefs at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images | Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images

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San Francisco 49ers

The 49ers have been trying in vain to replace DeMeco Ryans since he left last year.

Under Ryans, they had the no. 1 defense in the NFL. Now it's the fourth-worst, and their season is over while Ryans leads the Houston Texans into the divisional playoffs after defeating the Chargers in the Wild Card round.

On Sunday, 49ers linebacker Fred Warner appeared on ESPN NFL Countdown and spoke about his former coach.

"The unique thing with me and DeMeco, we both came into it together," Warner said. "My first year with the 49ers was his first year as a linebackers coach. I'm so happy for his success and the way he's leading this group. Am I surprised? No, not at all. This guy is one of the truest leaders of men that I've been around. And the way that he has been able to motivate this group, you see the energy that he's bringing, tell me another head coach that you see running up and down the sideline motivating a group like this. He played with that same fire on gameday when he was playing with the Texans and the Eagles."

Warner didn't mention 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan, but you can't help but compare him to Ryans. In lots of ways, they're opposites. Shanahan doesn't run up and down the sideline, his energy is extremely low and he doesn't motivate players.

I wonder if Warner truly sees Shanahan as a leader of men.

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Grant Cohn
GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.

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