Browns hire Falcons assistant Mike Rutenberg as defensive coordinatorChris Easterling
Akron Beacon Journal
Updated Feb. 16, 2026, 1:24 p.m. ET
Todd Monken made his desire clear at his introductory news conference as the Browns head coach. With or without Jim Schwartz as the coordinator, the "anticipation" was "we’re not going to change the system."
Schwartz turned out not to be an option because of his own decision to resign in frustration after being passed over for the head-coaching job. So, the man who did get the head-coaching job decided to turn it over to someone who may not come from the exact system Schwartz runs, but something that's almost alike while also stealing from the new staff of the former Browns head coach.
The Browns are hiring Mike Rutenberg to be their next defensive coordinator, a source tells the Beacon Journal. Rutenberg spent last season as the defensive pass game coordinator for the Atlanta Falcons, and had been retained along with defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich when Kevin Stefanski was hired as the Falcons' new coach less than two weeks after being fired as Cleveland's coach.
The 44-year-old Rutenberg completes the expected trio of coordinators on Monken's first staff. Although the Browns have yet to formally announce any coaching staff moves, it's been confirmed that Baltimore Ravens run game coordinator Travis Switzer, a University of Akron graduate, is expected to be the offensive coordinator and Green Bay Packers assistant special teams coordinator Byron Storer will be the special teams coordinator.
However, it's always been the defensive coordinator position that has drawn the most interest because of the proven talent and performance on that side of the football, especially in Schwartz's three seasons as defensive coordinator. That starts with an attacking defensive front, led by two-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett.
Monken stressed that "we’re built for the system that they’re in currently. … But they can be rest assured that we’re going to keep the same system. We’re still going to let them attack; we’re still going to let them play free. I can’t see any other way."
That's where Rutenberg's connections through an NFL on-field coaching career that started in 2013 as an assistant defensive backs coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars under head coach Gus Bradley comes into focus. That's especially true when you see his connection to Robert Saleh, under whom he worked with as a pass game specialist in 2020 with the San Francisco 49ers and then as the New York Jets' linebackers coach from 2021-24.
"Obviously, you kind of know what you’re going to get with him and the way he structures his defense," then-Browns offensive coordinator Tommy Rees said Nov. 28, ahead of Cleveland's game against the 49ers and Saleh. "They play a lot like our defense schematically, which is something we’re accustomed to seeing. They play hard, they play fast, they rally to the football, they attack you defensively. You know, the thing Salah does really well is his pressure packages."
There are going to be differences, naturally, in terms of overall system and scheme. That's inevitable for any coach and any scheme.
However, the systems to which Rutenberg has been connected all have a similar DNA. That's including what Bradley's philosophy was in Jacksonville, even if it was a Bob Babich or a Todd Wash in the defensive coordinator's role.
That's why Saleh, who worked under Bradley and with Rutenberg with the Jaguars from 2014-16, felt comfortable hiring Bradley as his defensive coordinator when he landed the Tennessee Titans head coaching job in January. He also interviewed Rutenberg for the role.
The Falcons' pass defense was the best part of their overall defense, which ranked 13th in passing yards per game (200.4) and 14th in passing yards per play (6.44). They were fourth in sack rate at 10.78% and fifth in interception rate at 3.02%.
While with the Jets, Rutenberg was part of the only defense in the league to rank in the top five in total defense over the three-season stretch from 2022-24, finishing fourth in 2022 before finishing third in both 2023 and 2024. He also coached linebackers Quincy Williams and C.J. Mosley, who, in 2021-22, became one of eight linebacker pairs in the NFL to each record 100-plus tackles and the only duo with back-to-back 100-plus tackle seasons.
"I came into the league with a lot of athletic ability, but I wasn't a student of the game and I was moving to a new position," Williams told NewYorkJets.com in 2023. "Coach Rudy was my first coach coming in, and he was just really patient with me. I just credit it to the hard work of those guys putting into me and then me just listening and taking what they said. But, I promise, they're the ones that made me who I am basically."
Over the three seasons combined, the Jets ranked No. 1 in total defense (305.7 yards per game) and passing defense (183.5 yards per game), No. 5 in tackles for loss (269), No. 8 in sacks (136) and No. 9 in scoring defense (21.1 points per game). In addition to finishing third in total defense in 2024, the Jets defense was fourth in passing defense, allowing only 192.6 yards per game, while ranking seventh in sacks per pass attempt at a rate of 8.25 percent.
Rutenberg graduated from Cornell University before being hired into an NFL administrative role in 2003 by Washington coach Joe Gibbs first as a player personnel intern before spending the 2004-05 seasons as an administrative assistant to the head coach. He was, essentially, Gibbs' right-hand man, helping with the team's daily calendar, practice schedules, presentations and opposition statistical research.
The first semi-coaching role came at UCLA in 2006 as a graduate assistant, which he held for three years. He went to New Mexico State in 2009 for a four-year stint as passing game coordinator and defensive backs coach under head coach DeWayne Walker, with whom Rutenberg worked at Washington, UCLA and Jacksonville.
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