DeMeco Ryans' Private Message: ’Reach Out to Our Texans Brothers!'
One of the major differences between being a coordinator and a coach in the NFL is that you move from being consulted on personnel decisions to being the face of what choices are made as teams trim their rosters down to 53 men.
DeMeco Ryans -- preparing for his first season as the Houston Texans coach after spending the last two years as Kyle Shanahan's defensive coordinator with the San Francisco 49ers -- explained what his message to his team was after going through his first cutdown period as the point person.
"I just make sure that guys who are on our team, that they realize, still, we need you to reach out to our other brothers, and make sure we’re connecting, make sure you’re checking on the guys, making sure they’re OK," Ryans said. "We’ll have some guys come back eventually for practice squad, but make sure those guys feel that you care about them because of the special bond that you guys have built throughout OTAs and training camp.”
Even if he was a good enough player to avoid being on the roster bubble for the majority of his 10-year playing career, certainly he made bonds with other players who weren't.
“Before having to give the bad news to guys, I went back to being a young player and understanding you’ve battled with all these guys in training camp through preseason games, and now you come in one day and the locker room is different," Ryans said of his mindset at this time of year.
As Ryans tries to build a culture in a place that's become rather toxic in recent years, caring for not only your current teammates, but former ones -- who could theoretically rejoin your organization or cross paths with you elsewhere in the NFL -- is probably a good place to start. While there's excitement about both quarterback C.J. Stroud and edge rusher Will Anderson Jr., Ryans has managed to bring a sense of stability to an organization that perhaps needed it more than any in the league.
