BEREA, Ohio -- Over the course of a few months, the Cleveland Browns lost two pillars of their elite defense.
In February, Jim Schwartz, the architect of one of the league's best units over the past three seasons, resigned from his position as defensive coordinator after being passed over for the head-coaching job that went to Todd Monken.
Four months later, the Browns traded defensive end Myles Garrett, the two-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year and the league's single-season sack leader, to the Los Angeles Rams.
Despite the departures, Cleveland still expects to field one of the stingiest defenses in the NFL -- with a new coordinator in Mike Rutenberg bringing fresh ideas, the 2024 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year in Jared Verse arriving to lead the pass rush, and plenty of returning talent.
"I see it as very similar to who we've been in the past," Monken said. "[Rutenberg will] put his own spin on it, and the staff as a collective whole. This is the Cleveland Browns defense, just like it was last year.
"Between our staff and 'Rudy' putting together the best plan, almost the same question: what do they believe in, and then what do our players do well? But I see a lot of similar things; we're going to be an attacking-style defense."
Same front, a new leader
Well before the Browns entertained the idea of trading Garrett to the Rams, they hired Rutenberg, a former Atlanta Falcons assistant, to keep the foundation of their defense intact: a four-down-linemen scheme with an attacking front.
Rutenberg, a first-time NFL coordinator, spent a large portion of his coaching career alongside Tennessee Titans coach Robert Saleh, who has used similar defensive fronts as Schwartz did. In 2025, Rutenberg worked with Falcons DC Jeff Ulbrich, another former Saleh assistant.
Verse, a two-time Pro Bowler who arrived in Cleveland via the blockbuster Garrett trade, steps into the hole vacated by Garrett with his sights on improving from his 12-sack total over his first two seasons.
Depth along the defensive line has been a concern for the Browns in training camp. Cleveland lost Alex Wright, who was projected to start at defensive end opposite Verse, to a ruptured Achilles two weeks ago. Even before Wright's injury, the Browns had scoured the edge rusher market for depth, hosting veterans Jadeveon Clowney and Za'Darius Smith before they signed elsewhere.
The Browns, though, got much-needed reinforcements last week when linebacker Carson Schwesinger and defensive tackle Maliek Collins returned from injuries that sidelined them for the majority of training camp. Before Collins' season-ending quad injury last December, he was having his most productive season with 6.5 sacks. He returns to the middle of the defense alongside second-year player Mason Graham. The No. 5 overall pick in the 2025 draft, Graham recorded a half-sack as a rookie but was 20th in ESPN's pass rush win rate as an interior defender.
It'll take a collective effort to make up for the NFL-record 23 sacks that Garrett produced last season, but the Browns are hoping it starts with Verse, who already has a reputation for being one of the best bull rushers in the NFL.
Now the center of a new-look defensive line, Verse told ESPN he learned invaluable lessons from his time with a similarly formidable unit in Los Angeles.
"The first thing I learned was you can trust your teammates," Verse told ESPN. "You don't got to make every superhero play. You don't got to be that superhero. But then the thing I also learned was to throw that out the window sometimes. Sometimes you have to put that cape back on. Sometimes you got to take those little glasses off and be Superman. You got to make those plays that it might not be your play, but you have to make it.
"You can't always rely on your teammates, and your teammates can't always just rely on you because sometimes I'm going to mess up, they're going to mess up, and we're going to have to be able to clean each other up."
Changes in the secondary
Where Rutenberg will leave his imprint most heavily is on the back end. Already one of the best man coverage secondaries, the Browns are aiming to confuse quarterbacks with increased pre- and post-snap disguises. In Atlanta, Rutenberg was the pass game coordinator for a defense that was tied for sixth in the league with 16 interceptions last season (Cleveland was tied for 16th with 11).
Where Garrett acknowledged that Schwartz was almost "stubborn" in his static approach, Rutenberg wants quarterbacks to hesitate by constantly changing what they see before and after the snap. Cleveland disguised its coverage on 19.8% of opponent dropbacks in 2025, which ranked 28th in the league. Atlanta disguised its coverage at a slightly higher rate, 22.9%, which ranked 20th during the same span.
Maybe tellingly, the Browns' defense racked up nearly two dozen interceptions during training camp.
"I think that this exotic defense that Rudy has, it's a lot of communication," safety Grant Delpit said. "It's a lot of disguise. It's a lot of confusion for the offense."
And on a defense that already used three-safety lineups frequently, its usage could increase even more after drafting safety Emmanuel McNeil-Warren in the second round of the 2026 NFL draft. Coaches and teammates have raved about McNeil-Warren's athleticism at 6-3 and 210 pounds and the flexibility he could offer on the field -- in pass coverage and run defense.
Still, Rutenberg doesn't want the essence of a defense that has allowed the fewest yards since 2023 to change. That means, even with the tweaks here and there, playing to his players' strengths, whether it be letting corners Denzel Ward and Tyson Campbell play sticky man coverage on an island, or allowing a physical and athletic front to be disruptive and penetrate into the backfield.
"The key is players," Rutenberg said. "Players make every scheme, whether you're disguised or not, Cover 3, Cover 1, it doesn't matter; everybody runs similar skills. It's about getting guys to understand what we're trying to do, which they've done at the highest level, and giving players opportunities to be successful in whatever coverage or scheme we're in."
