The Cleveland Browns may have witnessed a 16-sack season out of edge rush star Myles Garrett and new career-highs from safety Grant Delpit in 2022, but the defense fell to 20th overall — sparking a change in defensive coordinator.
Now, the Browns will turn to a man who hasn’t coordinated a defense in three years but has familiarity in turning around struggling units. Jim Schwartz also comes with a head coaching background and a Super Bowl ring in tow.
Jim Schwartz Gets Fourth Gig in a Coordinator Role
Schwartz, 57, gets his fourth opportunity to coordinate a defensive unit. Going all the way back to 2001, Schwartz received his first chance at running a defense by being an internal promotion from then-Tennessee Titans head coach Jeff Fisher, who needed to replace Gregg Williams.
After some early lumps, including being ranked 30th in 2004 and then 29th in 2005, Schwartz went on to lead the league’s eighth-ranked unit in 2007, followed by the NFL’s second-best defense in his final year in Nashville.
NFL fans likely remember Schwartz for coaching the Detroit Lions. He not only ended the franchise’s long 18-game losing streak in his first season at the helm (took over for a team that went 0-16 in 2008), but he guided Detroit to the playoffs in 2011, which ended an 11-season streak of missing the postseason.
Schwartz was ultimately fired in 2013 after back-to-back losing seasons. He landed with the Buffalo Bills the following year, and he took a defense that was 20th overall and led them to No. 4 overall in 2014.
Then, from 2016 to 2020, he spearheaded the Philadelphia Eagles’ defense. His first unit went from being ranked 28th in 2015 to 12th in his first season. In 2017, Philly produced the league’s fourth-ranked defense while on its way to the franchise’s first Super Bowl win. Schwartz’s next three Eagle defenses ranked no lower than 20th.
Who Is Schwartz Replacing? What Can Browns Fans Expect From Schwartz’s Scheme?
Schwartz’s most previous stop was back with the Titans in a consultant role. Now he takes over for Joe Woods, who spent the last three seasons with Cleveland. Schwartz also becomes head coach Kevin Stefanski’s first DC change with the Browns.
So how will this defense become different under the one Woods implemented? In answering a fan’s mailbag question on June 15, Browns writer Anthony Poisal described that Schwartz will be running a simple but aggressive scheme.
“With Schwartz, everything is straightforward — the defensive line will attack whoever has the football, the linebackers will clean up business if the ballcarrier reaches the second level of the defense and the secondary will keep things tight in a system that prefers to use man coverage rather than zone,” Poisal wrote.
If anything, the big change will be Delpit and the Browns’ secondary — including Pro Bowl talent Denzel Ward at cornerback — will be playing fewer zone coverages under Schwartz. However, Poisal adds, “The play calls appear to be simpler, and that allows players to think less before the snap and play with aggression all game.”
And, as defensive tackle and free agent pickup Dalvin Tomlinson described it, this is a scheme that will allow his trench mates to use power and explosiveness every single play. Not only boding perfectly for the natural nose tackle but for the perennial Pro Bowler Garrett and company as well.
