Jim Schwartz looking for fast and physical from Browns linebackers
BEREA — Jim Schwartz was talking about the defenses he has coached over his career last Wednesday. As the Browns’ new defensive coordinator spoke, he mentioned playing fast, being aggressive and being physical.
At that point, Schwartz stopped and realized what he was saying.
“I am sitting up here and there is not one defensive coordinator that is going to come up and say we want to play slow, slow and soft — ‘Hey, look, we are looking to be dumb, slow and soft,'” Schwartz said. “Everybody wants to be smart, fast and physical, but it just does not happen. There is a way that you can facilitate that. I have sort of learned that over the years.”
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Much of the focus on Schwartz’s defense, at least personnel-wise, has zeroed in on one of two areas. There’s the obvious talk about his wide-9 front and the impact it will have on potentially changing the composition of the Browns’ defensive line room, especially at tackle.
There’s also been conversation about the impact his pass coverage beliefs would have on a Browns secondary that lacks a true single-high safety type, but does have cornerbacks who boast above average man-to-man coverage skills. Under the Schwartz’s predecessor, Joe Woods, the Browns were a heavy zone coverage team.
However, where there’s been little conversation has been at the spot Schwartz actually has coached, at least as a position coach. Linebacker may also be a position as much in flux as defensive tackle when it comes to the Browns.
General manager Andrew Berry has stated publicly the organization’s preference, at least over the first three seasons of his tenure, has been in speed over size at both defensive tackle and linebacker. The personnel Berry has brought in to play linebacker backs that up, including a 221-pound Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, a 228-pound Jacob Phillips and a 222-pound Tony Fields II among those drafted by him who have started there last season.
“I think that it is no secret that our scheme and our defensive philosophy in how this system is designed is more predicated on speed than size and largely because of what we will ask the defensive line or the second level to do in coverage or how we really kind of move the front,” Berry said during a bye-week press conference last November.
“Look, I think quite honestly there are just different philosophies in terms of how you can defend. There are some teams that prioritize size and more of like a two-gapping model, but I think it is probably less about how you do it but more do you do it well and do you do the details well.”
Even linebackers either signed as free agents or acquired in trades have fallen in that mold, with Anthony Walker Jr. at 230 pounds and Deion Jones, acquired from Atlanta on Oct. 9, listed at 227 pounds. The Browns did have, by the end of the season, 252-pound Reggie Ragland and 265-pound Jermaine Carter Jr. on the roster and playing, but they were the only linebackers either on the active roster or injured reserve — which is where most of their linebackers ended up — to be listed at more than 238 pounds.