The Houston Texans aren’t in the Super Bowl, but they are in the headlines as Sunday approaches. While the topic of Kliff Kingsbury has people talking, the Texans also made news another way. Houston reportedly has hired their next defensive coordinator.
NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport reported on Friday morning that head coach DeMeco Ryans and the team hired Matt Burke to be the next DC.
“Sources: The Texans are expected to hire AZCardinals DL coach Matt Burke as their new defensive coordinator on DeMeco Ryans’ staff,” Rapoport tweeted.
Sources: The #Texans are expected to hire #AZCardinals DL coach Matt Burke as their new defensive coordinator on DeMeco Ryans’ staff. The former #Dolphins DC, Burke is the first big hire for Ryans in Houston. pic.twitter.com/tMBZvIInmm
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) February 10, 2023
Burke comes over from the Arizona Cardinals. He’s coached in the NFL since 2004 when he started with the Tennessee Titans. He moved on to the Detroit Lions, Cincinnati Bengals, Miami Dolphins, Philadelphia Eagles, Arizona, and now Houston. He served as the defensive line coach under Kliff Kingsbury, who, sure enough, could potentially join the staff as well.
This will be the first time Burke has been a defensive coordinator since 2017. He held that position with the Dolphins in 2017 and 2018. He worked his way up again from being a special assistant with the Eagles in 2019.
Ryans certainly knows defense, so Texans fans will likely trust this big coaching move. He’s begun to fill up his staff and seems to be gaining a vision as well. The hope, of course, is that he gets the chance to see it out. The Texans have fired their last two coaches after just one season each.
The NFL world reacted to the big Texans news.
DeMeco Ryans and Matt Burke haven’t made any final decisions on who will call the defensive plays for the #Texans, but don’t be surprised if it winds up being Burke. At the very least, he’ll have significant input. https://t.co/XpuSWAIdes
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) February 10, 2023
I trust DeMeco Ryans fully… if he thinks Matt Burke will do a good job, I’ll just wait and see what happens.
— Nick Schwager (@NickSchwagerNFL) February 10, 2023
The Cardinals had blocked Matt Burke from interviewing for the Browns DL job—Jim Schwartz wanted the well-respected lieutenant there. But they couldn’t stop him from taking a coordinator job.
Good get for DeMeco Ryans. https://t.co/XVNZk63MxX
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) February 10, 2023
Matt Burke brings almost 20 years of NFL coaching experience on the defensive side of the ball, two seasons worth of experience as a DC, and has seen a variety of schemes over his 7 different stops.
He'll be a good asset for installing DeMeco Ryans' defense #WeAreTexans
— John Crumpler (@JohnHCrumpler) February 10, 2023
I don't know much about the Texans' new defensive coordinator Matt Burke, but I do know it was his idea to put together this video for J.J. Watt. https://t.co/618T0tOfpW via @houstonchron
— Matt Young (@Chron_MattYoung) February 10, 2023
https://twitter.com/TexansEra/status/1624071235683471362
