Cleveland Browns defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz knows that if his defense wants to replicate the great season they had in 2023, things will need to look different.
Last year the team didn’t play particularly well in zone coverage and the redzone, something the Browns defensive coordinator discussed at Thursday’s OTA practice.
Schwartz said there is only so much you can do in the first year of a system, but he said there will be more wrinkles to confuse offenses next year in addition to the things they do well.
“We’re obviously in a different spot because we have a year in the system. So, I think what that affords us is the ability to work on more changeups like, we’re a fastball team right, we do what we do, we try to do it really well. But there were some things that we sort of held back last year”
Some of the more talented quarterbacks could take advantage of some of the things the Browns did with their lack of changeups, as Schwartz would say. More teams will be able to counter what the Browns do defensively with a year of tape to dissect, and Schwartz is aware and planning to evolve this year for a deeper playoff run.
