Why 49ers Star Fred Warner Is 'Forever Indebted' To DeMeco Ryans

Houston Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans burst onto the scene with one of the most impressive first seasons as a head coach in NFL history, guiding the Texans from a 3-13-1 record in 2022 to a 10-7 and AFC South champion team in 2023.

As a result, Ryans is now a finalist for the NFL's Coach of the Year Award alongside Dan Campbell, John Harbaugh, Kyle Shanahan and Kevin Stefanski.

One player who is not surprised by the quick ascension of Ryans is one of his former linebackers - San Francisco 49ers star Fred Warner, who gushed over his former coach during Super Bowl LVIII interviews in Las Vegas on Monday.

“I’m not the Fred Warner you see up here today without DeMeco Ryans,” Warner said Monday. “He’s everything. He’s truly everything to my development as a player, as a man and I’m forever indebted to him."

Ryans not only helped develop Warner into arguably the NFL's best linebacker, but he was also a critical part of the 49ers' decision to draft Warner in the first place in 2018.

And once Warner got to San Francisco, Ryans immediately saw a star in the making and worked tirelessly to help him achieve that potential.

“It takes pouring everything you have into a young man like a Fred Warner,” Ryans said last season. “Third-round pick, nobody thought he could play middle linebacker. But I saw something in him, I saw a leader. I saw a guy who loves football. And I saw a guy who truly just allowed me to coach him... And now to say that he’s the best linebacker in the NFL, I pride myself in that.”

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In five seasons with Ryans as his linebackers coach and his defensive coordinator Warner amassed 698 tackles (436 solo), six sacks, 30 tackles for loss, 37 pass deflections, six interceptions seven forced fumbles, and six fumble recoveries, landing on two NFL All-Pro Teams and making two Pro Bowls along the way.

Flash forward to today, no one is less shocked than Warner that Ryans has been this successful in his first season as a head coach.

"I’m not surprised by the success they had in Houston,” he said. “I knew he was gonna build a culture right away of them doing the right stuff the right way.”