DeMeco Ryans the Player Remembered by Eagles Veterans Who Played With Him

Dubbed Mufasa by Chip Kelly, Ryans impacted Fletcher Cox, Brandon Graham, and Jason Kelce and they are not surprised at the success the 49ers DC is having

PHILADELPHIA – Chip Kelly dubbed him Mufasa when he played for the Eagles - the Lion King, DeMeco Ryans.

A month after Mufasa was acquired from the Houston Texans in March 2012, Fletcher Cox arrived as a rookie first-round pick off the campus of Mississippi State. It would be another year before Kelly arrived in 2013 and gave Ryans his nickname, which he then paired with Jordan Hicks when he started calling the young LB Simba.

Cox was drawn immediately to Mufasa.

“When I first got here and was in the locker room with him I kind of watched him a little bit,” said Cox on Thursday. “He’s a natural leader. Playing with DeMeco taught me a lot, taught me a lot about how to be a pro, how to approach things, and DeMeco was always one of those guys if I had problems with something, I would go to him.

“If I had problems at home I would go to him to lead me in the right direction because that’s the type of guy he was. He wanted better for, it didn’t matter who it was, a rookie, second, third, it could be a vet, he just always wanted the best for whoever. I just looked at him as a natural leader.”

Some things never change.

Ryans' career began as the 33rd overall pick of the Texans out of Alabama in 2006. When they traded him to the Eagles six years later, he was still just 27, had already earned the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year Award, and had been named to a pair of Pro Bowls.

All it cost Philly was a fourth-round pick and a mutual swap of third-round picks.

Ryans retired from the NFL after the 2015 season and spent his last four seasons with the Eagles, yet he is still leading as the defensive coordinator of San Francisco’s top-ranked defense that will meet the Eagles’ third-ranked offense in Sunday’s NFC Championship Game.

San Francisco 49ers DC DeMeco Ryans / USA Today

“Smart,” was the first word out of Brandon Graham’s mouth when asked about his former teammate. “He knew what plays were coming. He’d call out plays behind us, just saying, ‘Hey watch out for this.’ We had certain calls.

“I see the 49ers have the same type of thing. When I saw them play against the Cowboys they were checking to certain stuff because of certain looks and certain things they knew were coming. That’s DeMeco all day.”

Ryans is very much in the mix to become a head coach, and maybe Eagles DC Jonathan Gannon’s top competition to be the Texans’ head coach.

If not this year for Ryans as a head coach, soon. Very soon.

He’s just 38.

“He was one that helped a lot of guys,” said Graham. “I know Mychal Kendricks thanked him a lot when he was here because he was the one who helped him with on-the-field stuff.

"He let him know what he was seeing, and he was able to make Mych play a lot faster because he was the leader of the defense and you could tell by how he’s coaching that he’s very smart, just wants to get the job done, get guys in a position to get the job done.”

That Ryans has moved on in the game from player to coach isn’t a surprise to anyone who knew him when he was with the Eagles from 2012-2015.

“Absolutely, I think a lot of guys felt this coming when he was a teammate,” said center Jason Kelce. “You talk about just an impeccable leader in a lot of similar ways to, I guess, Jalen (Hurts). Just always composed, Always was in the moment, very smart, cerebral player.

“He was definitely a favorite during the Chip Kelly era in the locker room by coaches and players. I mean everybody loved DeMeco and it’s no surprise that he’s had caught on to have success in anything but certainly not surprising that he’s having the type of success he’s having as a defensive coordinator.”

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Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Fan Nation Eagles Today and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglesmaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.