Depending on your outlook of the Eagles over the past three seasons, Jim Schwartz is either in over his head as a defensive coordinator, while others feel the Birds are blessed to have the veteran play-caller.
On Monday, NFL Media’s Tom Pelissero reported that the Cleveland Browns requested permission to and will interview the Eagles defensive coordinator for their head coaching position on Wednesday.
Schwartz isn’t the sexiest name on the list because of his time with the Lions, but he knows what he’s doing and can coach a defense up.
In Schwartz’s four seasons with the Eagles as Doug Pederson’s defensive coordinator, they’ve allowed the 7th-fewest points in the NFL during that four-year period at 20.8 per game.
The Eagles 16.1 points per at home are the lowest in the NFL over that time span. The 20.4 points per game allowed by the Eagles in that time period is the 5th fewest in NFL.
During his four seasons with the Eagles, Schwartz’s defensive units have ranked No. 12, No. 15, No. 5 and No. 4 respectively over that time period.
This past season the Eagles held eight of their last 10 opponents to 17 or fewer points. Some of those lofty statistics come from his love of numbers and being able to at times predict what’s coming next from an offense.
He comes from an old school football coaching tree, but Schwartz has a background in analytics, as he studied econometrics — the application of statistical and mathematical techniques in solving problems — at Georgetown University and employs a ton of data during his pregame preparation.
When utilizing statistics, Schwartz has always shared them with his players and will sometimes drop a pop-quiz on his defensive players.
According to Ian Rapoport, his love for analytics could give him a boost as a candidate.
From @NFLTotalAccess: The #Browns is the last opening left, and they have three interviews this week. Jim Schwartz's interest in analytics is worth considering. pic.twitter.com/t2X0GYPQ1v
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 7, 2020
That love for numbers and analytics could make Schwartz inticing for Browns exec Paul DePodesta, who is heading the coaching search and loves analytics as well.
The Browns have already interviewed Eric Bieniemy, Josh McDaniels, Greg Roman, Kevin Stefanski, Robert Saleh, and Brian Daboll.