DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum Browns Hire Jim Schwartz as DC.

I liked Schwartz's answers. To the point, good football points, sure of himself, knows his role, etc. Last thing any coordinator is go all Buddy Ryan on other coaches.

He’s probably the best DC we’ve had since Foge Fazio. I did a fist pump last night when I heard Jim was hired.

Edit: like I said yesterday, he will command respect. Some guys can’t, some can.

There will be no D players dogging it or trying to play Schwartz.

Good PC.

I like this hire. It was nice to get to know him.

He actually covered a lot of ground. Talked a lot about just doing the work. Spelled that out for himself, spelled that out for the players (and let them know it starts now). Spelled out why 'doing the work' is what attracted him to Stefanski; and the fact that Kev started at the bottom, just like he did, and busted his butt to get here.

Talked about his emphasis on pass rush, and that pressure is the most important aspect to a good defense. In his, it's predicated on pressure up front. "Scheme for pressure up front and blitz on my terms".

Disputed some of the claims that our LBs are too light. "They come in all packages... I want instincts, communication and explosiveness" "If I'm doing my job we're playing smart, fast and physical".

Talked about taking advantage of the talent available: "Go with your fastball; if you have a good fastball, bust their knuckles and throw 99. Be who you are, have the confidence to be who you are."

As far as building his staff:
(paraphrasing) "It's not my staff, it's Kevin's staff... he hired me to be the defensive coordinator... I've had a virtually no input before and we hit the ground running... I'm good at coaching coaches too".

I'm probably reading too much into that, but maybe Stefanski (and Schwartz?) think there is plenty of coaching talent here. Maybe Woods had lost the entire room? I'm probably wrong.

Talked about holding stars accountable. Expects the most from his best players and not afraid to discipline accordingly.

Was asked about analytics. "I love information... but you've got to know the difference between signals and noise. It's not always paint-by-numbers, that's never made a good artist... sometimes you have to color outside the lines".


Schwartz had a lot of stories from the past. He's talked about coming full circle and is incredibly grateful for his first opportunity in Cleveland. He sounds just as happy to be back. I think he sees this as a great opportunity to put a huge stamp on his career in the place it all started.

And now I read Lamp's post and remember that I forgot to add that. (Saw you posted that last night and nodded my head when I read it)

There is a big difference between people who command respect and those who demand it... Jim Schwartz is the former.

To some degree, a boss always demands a bit of respect. That's normal. The one who keeps it for any length end up commanding respect.

For those older dawgs, it's like the old Smith Barney commercial..Schwartz gets respect the old fashioned way...

I enjoyed your post a lot. I am not sure I'm right, but I disagree a bit w/this part.



Again, I could be wrong, but this reads as him being a good soldier and not stepping on Stefanski's toes. I'm sure that the two of them [and Berry,] to evaluate the staff, discuss what the parties expect from their coaches, conduct in-house interviews, etc.

j/c:

A life lesson that everyone should be taught at a young age...it is readily evident when a person is one way or the other ^.

I liken it to hearing someone say "I just tell it like it is." Whenever I hear that, I find that usually they do NOT. When you meet someone who really "Tells it like it is", you know...they don't have to remind you of that.

Some might not realize just how 'inexperienced' the coaches were that Stefanski brought with him from Minnesota...

Jeff Howard's coaching experience...link
As a coach:
Odessa Permian High School (2007–2010)
Assistant DBs/LBs – Defensive Coordinator

Texas Tech (2011–2012)
Offensive Line Assistant / Defensive Quality Control / DBs

Minnesota Vikings (2013–2019)
Defensive assistant

Cleveland Browns (2020–present)
Defensive backs coach/Pass game coordinator

Hopefully Schwartz can add experienced assistant coaches who can step in and teach our players his defensive system.

I don't know man....9 years in college and the pro's. 3 more in HS.

What's the proper amount of experience to be a DB coach? I'd bet if you look around the league at coaches of similar age, his experience is pretty typical.

Unless you are looking for a staff of 60 year olds, I am not sure what you are talking about.

I think it's great to have older, more experienced people who have the ability to transfer their knowledge to younger people in charge on the coaching staff. But as it pertains to supportive position coaches I tend to agree with you.

That's one of the many things I like about the Schwartz hire.

That is what we are talking about here. Mac always talks about lack of experience. The guy was the DB coach. Passing game coordinator, whatever the heck that entails. I don't think having 7-8 years of coaching at the high college, pro level is a lack of experience, at least for a position coach. Heck, it isn't all that far past that point that some are starting to be considered for coordinator and head coaching positions.

It's not like that guy came right to us from that HS where he coached. Sometimes I think he thinks they run some sort of seniority system.

j/c...

I agree w/Burns and mentioned this earlier when I replied to Fate.

Need to significantly upgrade the d-line and get Schwartz a Free Safety (hopefully).

Holds true in darn near any profession where your job is to supervise a group of people. I guess it doesn't matter if it is football or the accounting office.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that his success on the D side of the ball is pretty strong evidence he has the ability to teach it to his players.

Or it could be that he was blessed with a king's ransom in talent. I personally like Schwartz and believe he's a good hire, but you can't make something out of nothing. The Browns had the lowest rated DT tandem in the NFL in 2021. Berry went out and replaced those two guys with a poorer tandem in 2022. Now Woods took the fall for that gross error and that's part of the NFL. However, Schwartz won't be successful if he's given mediocre talent. You can't just put a body at DE and not expect Garrett to be double teamed every play because there's no threat from anywhere else on the d-line. If by chance the Browns do address both DT positions where they can occupy the blockers, the Browns need LB's that can react and fill the holes besides another sack artist at DE. Like I said, I like the Schwartz hire but that's only a piece of the puzzle. The major puzzle pieces will be decided in the next few months, and if they get another swing and miss by this FO; Schwartz won't be here long either.

If your assertion is true Woods did a fine job since the talent here on D sucks, I'm not buying that. There's a ton of talent in our secondary and they looked totally lost in some games. Are there some weak spots in the browns D? Yes there are. But communicating the D scheme to the players and getting them to implement that scheme on the field of play was a huge issue. This isn't a purely black and white issue.

As we saw in the secondary in some games this year, Woods couldn't get great secondary talent to perform well. That shouldn't be an issue with Schwartz.

That doesn't mean it will fix everything. It means it will certainly fix some obvious things.

I'm not disagreeing with you. I'm just asking or giving an opinion about who is responsible. Just bear with me a second and I'll explain. It's just questions about what I see not that it's right or wrong. Now, the HC isn't responsible for the defensive poor play because we have a DC and our HC is actually an OC. Why is that the case and where's the accountability for the position? The Browns fired the DC for the exact reasons you stated above but the DB coach still has his job as does the DL coach. If the Browns are holding the DC accountable for his defensive team, why is he the only one responsible and held accountable? If the great DB talent was not performing well, why hasn't the DB coach been held accountable. The same goes for the DL coach - why?

Is it being said that DB coach Jim Howard did a great job these last 2 years, but Woods didn't?
Is it being said that DL line coach Chris Kiffin did a great job these last 2 years having the worst DT's in the game both years? Or is Kiffin getting a pass because of Berry's poor acquisitions?
Is what we've seen out of the Browns LB's the last two years make us think we're set at the positions and ready to contend? If not, why is Jason Tarver still the LB coach?

Where is the accountability for the product put on the field? Who is the person responsible for the Cleveland Browns product we've watched the last 2 years?

No, I'm not saying Woods did a fine job the last two years - not even close. I actually have no problem with him being dismissed. What I am saying is that Woods is far far away from being the only issue that has caused the Bowns to sport two consecutive losing seasons with the talent on this roster. What I am saying is that accountability is basically nell on this team and just bringing in Schwartz is not going to turn the Browns fortunes around. I have to see what happens the rest of the off season but know this, the exact same issues we had last season after acquiring Watson is the same issues we have this off season, no DT's worth a damn - poor LB play - questionable FS - weak WR room - questionable LT play - question marks at center - and the new one, a second pass rushing DE to take the pressure off Garrett. One year later following another losing season and all the same questions. Where's the accountability?

j/c...

Interesting comments from Mary Kay beginning at the 17 min mark. She says she has been told the Jeff Howard's job is safe, the Browns will likely reatain several coaches from the defensive staff and Schwartz will not have "carte blanche" to hire his own staff. I hope this is not the case that Schwartz is limited in how he builds his staff.

Schwartz was just hired. It's far too early to say which of the D coaching staff will still have a job in Cleveland going into next season and which ones won't. I have no idea why you brought up Stefanski when the topic was about the ability of the DC to communicate his scheme to his players. That was brought up by the actual defensive players during the 2022 season. Schwartz has been seen as a very good communicator. Everything else you posted is outside of that topic and only serves to muddy the water.

Cleveland Browns: What I’m hearing about the Jim Schwartz hiring – Terry Pluto

CLEVELAND, Ohio – When the Browns were looking for a head coach in 2020, among the candidates they interviewed was Jim Schwartz.

Browns Chief Strategy Officer Paul DePodesta was conducting the search. One of the people who was consulted by DePodesta was Andrew Berry.

In 2019, Berry was the assistant GM with the Philadelphia Eagles, where Schwartz served as defensive coordinator. They struck up a solid professional relationship. Berry was impressed with Schwartz’s ability to teach, to discipline and to motivate. At the very least, Berry considered Schwartz an impact defensive coordinator – which is what his resume’ shows.

In 2020, the Browns decided to hire their coach first, then the general manager. They eventually settled on Kevin Stefanski for the position, but I was told they also liked Schwartz.

Berry also was a Stefanski fan. They got to know each other early in 2019 when Stefanski interviewed for the coaching job that eventually went to Freddie Kitchens. Berry was still in the Cleveland front office during that search.

Stefanski and Berry talked a few times about how they hoped to work together one day. That happens a lot in pro sports. Berry was hired a few weeks after Stefanski to be the GM.

It’s much like how Schwartz mentioned his relationship with Berry during his press conference as the new Browns defensive coordinator.

Schwartz said this about Berry: “I (liked) the way he thought and how smart he was and his long-range vision. I always had it in the back of my mind that, man, that is a guy I would like to work with again and that is sort of my idea of a GM. Just unflappable. The same all of the time. Did not get too high. Did not get too low.”

People in pro football know that, for most of them, NFL stands for Not For Long – at least with the same team. Players, coaches and executives often keep a mental list of people they could connect with in the future.

THE SEARCH FOR A DC

From what I hear, Brian Flores and Schwartz had the edge over other candidates. The plan is for Stefanski to immerse himself in bringing out the best in QB Deshaun Watson. That meant Cleveland needed a strong defensive coordinator who would serve as the head coach of the defense.

Schwartz and Flores both have been head coaches. Flores will have a lot of opportunities and wants to be a head coach again. He was not going to quickly jump at a chance to be a defensive coordinator with several head coaching positions opening up. Flores will interview for Arizona’s head coaching position.

Meanwhile, the Browns wanted to fill DC spot ASAP, assuming they had the right guy. When they started their search, the only other team looking for a DC was Atlanta. The Browns knew that would change as teams hired new head coaches first.

They believed if they didn’t move fast on Schwartz, someone else would hire him. They did much the same thing when Bill Callahan became available in 2020. The Browns consider the offensive line coach a major hire and moved to bring Callahan to Cleveland and keep him here. Then the Browns extended Callahan’s contract when the New York Jets asked permission to interview Callahan for their open offensive coordinator position.

Schwartz had some health problems. That led to him resigning as Philadelphia’s defensive coordinator after the 2020 season.

The 56-year-old Schwartz is not pushing hard to be a head coach again. He’s thankful to be healthy and ready to coach the defense – his passion.

At his press conference, Schwartz talked about his recent health struggles:

“My thyroid went kaput a couple of years ago. It took the greater part of about 18 months to get my numbers to where they needed to be. It is well controlled. I went through a year where I could not sleep more than two hours. I was either too hot or too cold. My poor wife, I would freeze her out with the air conditioning and then walk around with a winter coat on the next day.

“I had some eye surgeries because of some vision stuff due to it … (Schwartz told a doctor) ‘I get really wicked headaches from watching film because I have some double vision.’ His solution was, ‘Well, don’t watch so much film.’

“I could not cheat the game. I could not give a substandard performance. It was not fair to the organization. It was not fair to the players. It was not fair to the other guys on the coaching staff. It was a very difficult decision, but I had to step away.”

After the 2020 season, Tennessee hired Schwartz as a senior defensive assistant.

“The Titans and (head coach) Mike Vrabel were very gracious to give me an opportunity to still contribute while I was dealing with that stuff,” Schwartz said. “I feel good. I am ready to go again.”

The Browns also checked out Schwartz’s physical condition and they believe he’s healthy.

Like many fans, the Browns believe there is more to be squeezed out of Myles Garrett. They also are convinced Schwartz can do it. He’s had success with many other defensive linemen. Some examples are Albert Haynesworth, Kyle Williams, Mario Williams, Fletcher Cox, Ndamukong Suh and Jason Hargrave.

Players respect coaches who have done well in other places – and have a good reputation among the players they coached elsewhere. That’s Schwartz with his defensive linemen.

“We run a very D-line friendly scheme that eliminates a lot of conflict for those guys,” said Schwartz. “We sort of let those guys go and be disruptive. The way you affect the game the most in this league is by pass rush. It is hard to win in coverage.

“You can still win one on one on pass rush, and a devastating pass rush goes a long way. You can create turnovers off of pass rush. If you can rush with four, it allows your blitz game to be so much more effective because you start blitzing on your terms as opposed to on the offense’s terms.”

The Browns will challenge Garrett to be more of a leader. He has been given that platform, talking to the media after games from the podium. But Garrett sometimes engaged in odd mixed messages when it came to former defensive coordinator Joe Woods and the scheme being used.

There also was a sense among some players that Garrett was receiving special treatment. Schwartz is from the Bill Belichick school where you coach your stars the hardest. You hold them to the highest standards. The Browns want Schwartz to do that with Garrett and the other top players on defense.

“Every offense we will play will probably start with ‘How do we neutralize Myles Garrett and how do we keep him from wrecking this game?’” said Schwartz. “It’s my job to give him some answers and to be able to put some pieces scheme-wise and personnel-wise around him to allow him to be free and more productive ... The bar is set really high for good reason.”

THE DEFENSIVE LINE UPGRADES

There has been a lot of debate about the Browns having defensive tackles who are “too light,” in terms of their weight. My guess is Schwartz will be more of the opinion that they are “too light” in terms of talent. He’ll probably want more size, but only if it comes with more ability.

Schwartz was very careful to let everyone know Stefanski is picking the assistant coaches. He was very careful to be respectful to the front office during his press conference.

But Schwartz will have major influence when it comes to fixing the defense, both in coaching and acquiring players. The Browns know they have to fix this side of the ball. They know they can’t come back with the same players on the defensive line.

https://www.cleveland.com/browns/20...KquEdI1twe9hFiZIXX-1_23624AA2d7XJPxI5vv0

Haven't seen such a positive article by Pluto in a long time. Nice to see some positives. Hoping for the best.

I think we will see some try to dissect the article and make something out of it that it's not. But I agree with you. I love the hire and am hoping for the best.

this is the point in the offseason where we begin to talk ourselves into optimism based on projections from things that other people did somewhere else.

At least they hired a proven veteran DC ...

And talk ourselves into the possibility that certain/many players will magically become something they have never before been in the NFL.

And some will continue to will continue to make one negative post after another about how bad we suck because they chose a player over the team.

You are the only poster on here - other than BakerDawg who left - that "chose" a player over the team...and you both chose the same guy. We "suck" for a lot of reasons that go beyond any ONE player.

We will slobber over the board convincing each other than Wills is a really good LT...that Conklin will stay injury-free...that DPJ will be a #2 ala Tee Higgins...that Harris will get bigger and stronger...that Njoku is as good as Kelce/Kittle...that DW and Ski will form a magical duo...that Taven Bryan is a quality starter...that Elliot has rededicated himself...that Alex Wright will be that bookend to MG...that cutting JJ3 had nothing to do with a salary cap...that our 225lb LBs will be just fine...that we don't REALLY need a FS-type...and that Ski can now scheme up play-calling beyond the first # of scripted plays.

Newsflash: The only person's head where Baker Mayfield lives...is yours. The rest of us will be talking about players and coaches who are actually on the team.

Again, you resort to lies. I did not leave the board due to Baker. I left due to the constant harassment by The Fabulous Baker Boys being permitted to break the rules over and over again.

And it is your group who spew negative post after negative post on this thread because you love Baker more than the team. I think most people have picked up on that and have called you guys out for the frauds that you are.

Wow! Do we have any players or coaches worth a damn besides Chubb and Garrett?

He doesn't like Myles, either.

Just so we're clear here, this isn't intended to be snarky or to fight. And no, I'm not trying to tell you what to post before you start that BS. First and foremost, it appears you don't have a firm grasp on what the rules are. According to you people break them all of the time. Yet the person who owns this board and those who he has chosen to help moderate it don't seem to think so. I don't think anyone has made you the arbitrator of the rules. So maybe you should consider your actual, status, a poster no more or no less than the rest of us.

This Fabulous Baker Boys BS you perpetuate. If you wish to talk about "most people have picked up on that", you may wish to consider that most people have picked up on the fact that all you do is try to place some negative stereotype on anyone who that has a negative opinion about this team. For some reason you can't seem to understand that when your team goes 7-10 people aren't happy. And that there certainly are some negatives. If their weren't the teams record would be much better. Your attempt to silence them and diminish their concerns is to label them a "Fabulous Baker Boy". People aren't naive enough to buy into that BS. At least they shouldn't be.


This is yet another lie you repeatedly tell to try to diminish any opinions and points that differ from your own. There's nothing factual about that assertion. It's just a bag of BS you toss up in the air to spread feces around the board hoping your character assassination will work on the feeble minded. This is what always happens when you get the least bit frustrated.

And let me explain my only reason for posting this. You know your football. I actually like reading it and like discussing the topics you post about when its of interest to me or I feel I have anything to add. A lot of things concerning this team we see very close to the same or at least somewhat the same. Some things we certainly don't. That doesn't mean the times that we don't that I have some nefarious agenda or that I'm trying to gang up on you. Some of my opinions aren't popular. Not that I've ever really cared about that. At times there will be many posters who come out on this forum and disagree with me. I don't accuse them or you of being part of a gang. I don't believe there's some hidden club out there to get me. I don't consider myself that important that people would actually go to that much effort to work as a group to attack me. And nobody is doing that to you either.

If you have a disagreement with a certain poster, fine. But for some strange reason you can't manage to do that. Your go to is "posters and gangs". So post what you like as I'm sure you would without me saying anything. But just know that you're making yourself look just as bad or worse than those you're pointing the finger at.

I like to discuss some of your football posts, but when you go off the rails this way you put a target on your own back. Maybe you should stop blaming others for that.

Use those advanced English degrees and go back and pay attention to the punctuation in my comment about the similarities between you and BakerDawg. I did NOT say that YOU left over your hatred for Baker. Just because you are a known liar doesn't mean that others have to resort to your lying-ways to make a point.

Baker is only in YOUR head.

Sure we do. That wasn't the point I was making in response to Purp's post though. We have many, many good players including Chubb and Garrett. My intent was to acknowledge that by NOT putting them - and others - in my post there ^. I've mentioned time and again what a special talent MG is and that the holding against him is over the top and not called...at the same time I think he is ridiculously over-rated. In the circles I run in in real life, others see the same thing I do. I'm excited to see what Schwartz does with him.