The Browns have a new head coach and defensive coordinator for the 2026 season, but linebacker Carson Schwesinger isn’t expecting things to look much different on his side of the ball.
Jim Schwartz led a defense that allowed the fourth-fewest yards in the league in 2025 while helping Schwesinger win defensive rookie of the year and Myles Garrett win defensive player of the year, but left the team after they opted to hire Todd Monken as their head coach instead of promoting him to that job. Mike Rutenberg is now running the defense and Schwesinger said on NFL Network that he believes things will be remaining pretty much the same in terms of how Cleveland’s defense will be deployed.
“One of the big things for us is we wanted to keep a lot of the scheme the same,” Schwesinger said Friday. “So in terms of that, I don’t expect there to be a lot of changes. For me, I’m just ready to go in there and kind of just build off what we did last year and really keep the defense rolling and get in there ready to work and learn whatever I’ve got to learn now and keep doing what we were doing.”
The defense wasn’t enough to help the Browns avoid a 5-12 record in 2025 and it sounds like the bigger focus this offseason will be improving the offense that stymied the team so often last year.