DeMeco Ryans Traded To Philadelphia Eagles From Houston Texans

The Philadelphia Eagles have made the critical move required to help their fledgling linebacker corp today by acquiring Pro Bowler DeMeco Ryans in a trade with the Houston Texans according to John McClain of the Houston Chronicle.

The deal involves the Eagles sending Houston the 4th round pick they acquired from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers – obtained in a pick trade during the 2011 draft and is the 4th pick of that round – as well as the two teams swapping their third round picks – Houston giving up the 26th pick in that round and Philadelphia giving up the 13th.

The move shows a major investment by the Eagles as while there is no more guaranteed money in Ryans’ current contract he is due to be paid just over $25 million in the next four seasons. Ryans is well worth this type of money however as he has been voted to two Pro Bowls and had one All-Pro selection since being drafted with the 33rd pick of the 2006 NFL Draft and in those six seasons has amounted 637 total tackles.

The move is a good one for both sides. While Ryans is a very impressive player he is not ideally suited to Houston’s 3-4 scheme and as such was becoming a salary burden to the team. On the flip side they also got a draft choice for him. On the Eagles side, they got themselves a player who should do well as an inside linebacker in their 4-3 scheme and they don’t have to pay him the big contract that is likely for free agent linebackers such as Curtis Lofton or David Hawthorne.

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