After three seasons with Joe Woods as their defensive coordinator, the Cleveland Browns made a change with the January hire of Jim Schwartz, who has a long NFL history as a head coach and defensive coach. The primary mission the Browns seemed to have this offseason was to bring more quarterback sacks, hits, and hurries from the defensive line, and that’s something that will be needed if this team is to be truly competitive. In 2022, per Pro Football Focus, Myles Garrett was responsible for 18 of the team’s 37 sacks, eight of the team’s 23 quarterback hits, and 47 of the team’s 118 quarterback hurries.
Not the ratio you want.
So, in addition to mixing things up with the Schwartz addition, the Browns got decicive in free agency, adding former Minnesota Vikings linemen Za’Darius Smith and Dalvin Tomlinson, as well as ex-Texans edge-rusher Ogbonnia Okoronkwo. They also selected Baylor defensive tackle Siaki Ika with the 98th overall pick in the third round, so this amounts to a wholesale change in the Browns’ ability to get after the quarterback with more guys than just Garrett.
“I think as you guys hear Jim talk, he’ll talk about being an attack-style front,” general manager Andrew Berry said at the scouting combine. “So, guys that really do get up the field, penetrate, really use either quickness or power to create disruption behind the line of scrimmage. So that’s the general picture that you’ll get from our defense.”
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