Ryans NFL Defensive ROY!!!

Preston27 · Jan 3, 2007

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2718180

YORK -- DeMeco Ryans came into the NFL as Houston's second choice to bolster its defense. He leaves his first pro year as The Associated Press Defensive Rookie of the Year.

DeMeco Ryans
Linebacker
Houston Texans

Profile
2006 SEASON STATISTICS
Tot Ast Solo FF Sack Int
156 126 30 1 4 1

The linebacker, chosen at the top of the second round of last April's draft -- 32 spots after the Texans made defensive end Mario Williams the first overall selection -- was a runaway winner of the award announced Wednesday. Ryans led the league in solo tackles with 126, and his 156 total tackles were 33 more than the next-best rookie, Detroit linebacker Ernie Sims.

In fact, no rookie in the last 20 years had more tackles than Ryans, who was an All-American at Alabama in 2005. And Ryans had more tackles than any of the other five linebackers who won the award this decade, including Brian Urlacher and Shawne Merriman.

"It's always nice to be touted as one of the best and have a big-time stat, but I credit that to the other 10 guys that are around me on defense," Ryans said. "We wouldn't be talking about me without those other 10 guys out there."

Defensive Rookie of Year voting
Player Team Votes
DeMeco Ryans Houston 36
Mark Anderson Chicago 5
A.J. Hawk Green Bay 4
Kamerion Wembley Cleveland 2

Well, we might be, because Ryans came into training camp, was moved to the middle and almost immediately established himself as the premier rookie defender on the roster. Better -- by far -- than Williams.

And Ryans never let up.

"It wasn't a big 'Wow' moment to me and there wasn't any nervousness or anything like that. I was comfortable from the time I began," he said. "Nothing really just shocked me going through the year. I played in a big game atmosphere in college, so I was used to that. I knew what the competition level would be like. Nothing really surprised me."

The ease with which Ryans won the award might have been surprising. He received 36 of the 50 votes by a nationwide panel of sports writers and broadcasters who cover the NFL.

Second was Chicago end Mark Anderson, who was Ryans' teammate at Alabama, with five votes. Green Bay linebacker A. J. Hawk was next with four, while Cleveland LB Kamerion Wimbley got two votes.

Williams, Cincinnati DB Johnathan Joseph and Baltimore DB Dawan Landry each received one.

Gary Kubiak, in his first head coaching job, was concerned about moving Ryans to the leadership role in the middle of a revamped unit. He shouldn't have worried.

"I knew he was a special kid when he was here through OTAs and stuff," Kubiak said of offseason workouts. "Just how smart he was, and the coaches were coming back saying we hit it big on this kid, he's going to be something.

"I think when you really knew he was fixing to be a great player was about midway through training camp when we were in meetings and having a problem at [middle] linebacker and started having a conversation. We said: 'Let's just put the kid in there and go.' You say, 'Well it's a lot to handle, it's the whole defense. We may set him back. We don't want to do that.'

"We made that decision and within about a two-week period you knew that he was going to be fine with it."

More than fine -- the best of all defensive rookies.

He is the first Texan to win an individual award since Houston entered the league in 2002.

Merriman won the award last year.

Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press
Click to expand...

Uprising · Jan 3, 2007

Awesome, he definetly deserved it!

Got Em · Jan 3, 2007

The best draft we've had! Hope super mario can turn it up next year.

JeopardE · Jan 3, 2007

Looks like Mario got one vote. Yay.

Interesting to learn that he has the most solo tackles by a rookie in 20 years. That is seriously impressive -- this kid is going to be *dominant* in the future. Makes you excited about the future of the team, considering that Mario has been playing injured for half the season and wasn't even taking reps in practice. Once we fix our secondary, we hopefully will be sporting a top-10 defense in this league soon. Major congrats to Demeco.

BmwM3 · Jan 3, 2007

Demeco deserves it! He also deserves a pro bowl spot!

Shroopy2 · Jan 3, 2007

That's a great honor, much deserved. Makes up for what might be Pro Bowl snub.
MARIO got a vote, how about that? Sounds like Texans are forming a D to be reckoned with!

Luckyazn · Jan 3, 2007

NFL D. ROOKIE OF THE YR!

Luckyazn · Jan 3, 2007

wait ........

So if VY or Bush wins OFFENSIVE ROOKIE OF THE YEAR!

then we could had DRAFTED Both in the same yr?

hatemavs4life · Jan 3, 2007

Major congrats and accolades for not only winning DROY, but DeMeco won it in a landslide. He left no doubt. His performance on the field tells you all you need to know. What a freakin stud! Very happy how he's turned out for us. Definitely optimistic about our future.

Miguel · Jan 3, 2007

Luckyazn said:

wait ........

So if VY or Bush wins OFFENSIVE ROOKIE OF THE YEAR!

then we could had DRAFTED Both in the same yr?
Click to expand...

Vince Young would be the only legit one of those two to win. If they're gonna give it to a running back, it's DEFINITELY GOT to go to Maurice Jones-Drew

ROXRAN · Jan 3, 2007

Yep, the thing on Ryans was you almost knew right away he would be impact big time this year...I didn't get that feeling with Williams from the get-go...

A freaking tackle machine and a player that was everywhere...Draft defense again?

DonnyMost · Jan 3, 2007

Very proud of Demeco!

Things are looking up.

MadMax · Jan 3, 2007

good for him!! far and away my favorite texan.

Lil Pun · Jan 3, 2007

Luckyazn said:

wait ........

So if VY or Bush wins OFFENSIVE ROOKIE OF THE YEAR!

then we could had DRAFTED Both in the same yr?
Click to expand...

It really doesn't matter who wins off. rookie of the year, the Texans could've had anybody they wanted.

Bobblehead · Jan 3, 2007

He is the first Texan to win an individual award since Houston entered the league in 2002??

Not true?? Didn't Dominick Williams get ROY????

texanskan · Jan 3, 2007

Bobblehead said:

He is the first Texan to win an individual award since Houston entered the league in 2002??

Not true?? Didn't Dominick Williams get ROY????
Click to expand...

DD or DW was voted the fans or Pepsi OROY

texanskan · Jan 3, 2007

Oh yeah, Demeco is a stud and should be in the pro bowl!

Mario turn 22 in a few weeks, don't worry he will be a stud as well!

ima_drummer2k · Jan 3, 2007

He led the league in tackles?? Wow. He was a big reason the defense got better and better as the year went on.

Just wait until Mario is finally at 100% and he (hopefully) gets some help on the D-line this offseason. We could have a damn good defense next year.

rrj_gamz · Jan 3, 2007

Congrats...Finally something to cheer about...I can't wait for next year, as always, I'm optomistic...

glad_ken · Jan 3, 2007

VY won offensive ROTY.

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