Cleveland Browns defensive coordinator Mike Rutenberg may have the biggest shoes to fill of anyone associated with the franchise.
Rutenberg is taking over the defense from Jim Schwartz, who, during his three years in town, built a defense that may not have always been dominant, but was the unquestioned bright spot of the franchise.
However, rather than continuing to coach a unit with Myles Garrett, who appears to be in need of a refresher course about speeding, Carson Schwesinger, Denzel Ward, and
a solid group of players, Schwartz decided to take his playbook and go home after being passed over for the head coach position in favor of Todd Monken.
Rutenberg now has the task of trying to improve the unit, while also perhaps dealing with some resentment from the key players who were not shy in advocating for Schwartz during the head coach process.
While that may not be an easy task early on, Rutenberg has been coaching in the NFL since 2013 and has worked with four different teams, so he has learned to interact with a variety of players. He sees replacing Schwartz as less of a challenge and more of an opportunity, as he said on Wednesday during his introductory press conference:
“Any new opportunity is about building relationships, right? And relationships come from the heart. So we’re going to build relationships. I’m going to learn about the players, learn about the coaches, share my story, and learn their story. And whatever is important to the players, I want to learn about them. Whether it’s their families, whether it’s football, any outside interests, I’m going to dive right in and build those relationships.”
One advantage the Rutenberg brings with him is his relationship with Robert Saleh, as the two worked together with the New York Jets and San Francisco 49ers.
Saleh’s defensive principles share similarities with what the Browns were running under Schwartz, and Rutenberg has retained several defensive coaches, which should help with the transition. But Rutenberg emphasized his defense will be more about the style of play:
“It’s always going to be style over scheme. No matter what, the way we play, how hard we play, playing for each other, how fast we play, and how violent we play. And that’s always going to be over scheme. Us going after the ball and then putting our players in the best positions to be successful, it’s always going to start with the front. It will forever and always be in the history of football. And we’re going to continue to do that.”
As good as Schwartz is as a defensive coordinator, it was his choice not to stay with the Browns. That may still be hard for some of the players to accept, but it is Rutenberg’s show now, and hopefully he will retain enough of what works and mix in some fresh ideas to help the defense elevate its game.
