6 Potential Philadelphia Eagles replacements for Jim Schwartz

This might be the next best thing to Saleh if you’re a Philadelphia Eagles fan.

Yes, we’re talking about the same DeMeco Ryans that you’re thinking about. Once upon a time, he helped man the second level of Philly’s defensive unit from 2012 to 2015, and even though those weren’t always the best of times, the current inside linebackers coach of the San Francisco 49ers was a bright spot that made it easy to feel better about what was going on at linebacker.

As a player, Ryans, a former second-round draft choice took home the Associated Press’  NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year Award in 2006. For a couple of encores, he racked up two Pro Bowl nods (2007 and 2009) and a First-team All-Pro selection in 2007. Unfortunately, for Birds fans, all of that was done as a member of the Houston Texans.

His time in Philly was admirable. He racked up 334 total tackles, five sacks, a forced fumble, two fumble recoveries, 20 pass breakups, and five picks while appearing in 54 regular-season games with 53 starts. The Birds have no shot at employing Robert Saleh. He’s probably a head coach in 2021, but Ryans has been learning from him since 2017, first as a defensive quality control coach and now as an inside linebackers coach.

Write his name down if you haven’t because if Saleh leaves the Niners and Ryans isn’t promoted, this might be someone that the Birds need to put on the next thing smoking back to Philly.