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Ryans named AP Defensive Rookie of the Year
Associated Press


NEW 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.

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."


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.

Defensive Rookie of Year winners
Year Player Team
2006 DeMeco Ryans Houston
2005 Shawne Merriman San Diego
2004 Jonathan Vilma New York Jets
2003 Terrell Suggs Baltimore
2002 Julius Peppers Carolina
2001 Kendrell Bell Pittsburgh
2000 Brian Urlacher Chicago
1999 Jevon Kearse Tennessee


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


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

Wow, so much for the award NOT going to a player on a bad team.

It's pretty frustrating that Wimbley, statistically, had a better season than Merriman did last year, and he gets 2 votes. I'm not surprised though.

It's all because "The Man" (NFL) is punishing Cleveland for their insubordination and forcing them to give us a new franchise. <img src="/images/graemlins/naughtydevil.gif" alt="" /> It's all rigged. <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

<img src="/images/graemlins/rofl.gif" alt="" />

Agreed. Couple in the fact that Merriman had someone else on the other end to help him out, while Wimbley had a dinosaur in McGinest who didn't do much pass-rush wise.

cant really argue with ryans taking this. what i find so interesting is that he was their second pick if you remember. do you see the one they took over Reggie Bush or Vince Young?

the problem is, a guy on a bad team gets more tackles, because opposing offenses run more plays!!

% of team tackles would be a better stat.

Maybe it has something to do with almost everyone getting better stats then merriman this year?

Almost everyone? Care to elaborate?

yeah, but wimbley isnt a genetically enhanced man/robot freak

Wimbley got TWO freakin votes? Geez........ Kam was 11th in the NFL with 11 sacks.....and also added 62 tackles. Oh well, atleast we finally hit a homerun with a draft pick.

I think the correct term is d'roid' freak. <img src="/images/graemlins/naughtydevil.gif" alt="" />

Statistically beating last years winner doesn't really mean all that much,,, How did Wimbley stack up against Ryans this year...that's all that matters,,

As far as a winner coming from a bad team,, I'm impressed that Ryans and Wimbley were even considered given the overall record of thier teams,,, I'm glad it happened however. Just sorry it wasn't Wimbley,, he's worthy of that honor to be sure.

It's funny how the talking heads were discussing about how if they could start a defense from scratch, they'd start with Merriman or Champ Bailey.

Does this mean Wimbley's in the equation too now? One can only hope so.

I agree it doesn't matter that Wimbley's stats are better than last year's DROY. I made the comparison because they are both pass rushers, and Merriman was made out by the "talking heads" to be the next comming of LT. I'm sure that has a lot to do with the style and personality of the players, as Wimbley is less marketable because he's quiet, humble, doesn't dance, and is not on steroids.

It's tough to compare his stats to DeMeco Ryans because one is a run stuffing MLB (more tackles), while the other is a pass rushing 3-4 OLB (more sacks, tackles for a loss).

I do think that Ryans is deserving though. Just though Kam should have got more votes.

Agreed

Second.

Can't take anything away from Ryans, he had a solid year. In the end, I am just happy that Kam even got votes knowing how the media usually ignores the Browns unless there is something negative to report.

I don't have an issue with Ryans getting DROY, I was disappointed that he went to Houston. This selection probably resulted in Savage pulling the trigger to trade for DQ. I remeber PS had good words about Ryans.

As far as Wembley is concerned I am just satisfied that we got great production out of the Draft choice. He looks like he will be a great player in the coming years.

As hard as it is now to get to Hawaii.. He will get there one day once this team makes a name for itself...