HOUSTON (AP) — DeMeco Ryans vividly remembers a moment years ago while working as an assistant for coach Kyle Shanahan in San Francisco when he sat him down in his office and told him he believed he could be an NFL head coach one day.

“I was kind of shocked by it because no one had ever said that to me before,” Ryans recalled this week.

Ryans worked under Shanahan from 2017-22 before his prediction came true and Ryans was hired as the Houston Texans coach in 2023. And on Sunday, Ryans will face his former boss for the first time when the 49ers (5-2) visit the Texans (2-4).

Shanahan didn’t recall that exact conversation but said he knew Ryans was special from the moment he met him when he was a rookie linebacker with the Texans in 2006 when Shanahan was an assistant on the team.

“Just t

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