BEREA, Ohio — After fielding arguably the most effective protection within the NFL within the 2023 season, the Cleveland Browns introduced again most contributors from that record-setting unit. Nonetheless, because the offense cratered within the 2024 season, it dragged the protection down with it.
Cleveland’s protection dropped from first in yards per play allowed (4.6) in 2023 to twenty third in 2024, permitting 5.6 yards per play. And after yielding the bottom whole QBR within the league in 2023, the Browns allowed the seventh-highest mark to quarterbacks final season (59.2). The protection additionally gave up 126 explosive performs, the third most within the NFL.
Through the Browns’ second week of organized workforce actions, defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz pointed to 2 areas of enchancment for his unit: third-down protection and takeaways. Cleveland’s protection ranked eighth in third-down protection (36.2%) however its 12 takeaways had been tied for second fewest within the NFL.
The Browns nonetheless return most of the gamers who performed an enormous function in its elite end in 2023, together with edge rusher Myles Garrett, who was named Defensive Participant of the 12 months that season. If Cleveland, although, is to determine itself as soon as once more as one of many league’s stingiest defenses, it is going to want robust play from a solid of newcomers and incumbents seeking to step into larger roles.
Listed below are 5 gamers who may decide if the Browns protection is elite once more in 2025.
In 2023, Emerson seemed like an up-and-coming star cornerback within the league. Emerson allowed the bottom passer ranking amongst corners with at the least 40 targets (43.8) and shaped a cornerback duo with perennial Professional Bowler Denzel Ward that hardly ever gave up a lot on the skin.
However final season, Emerson was a frequent goal for opposing offenses and allowed a passer ranking of 100.5 when focused, which ranked forty ninth out of 71 cornerbacks with at the least 40 targets.
“The most important factor has simply been ending on the ball,” Schwartz stated in January. “There’s a whole lot of metrics that his protection has been simply as tight (in 2024) as (2023), however there’s a bit higher end on the ball, in order that’s bought to be some extent of emphasis.”
It is a essential season for Emerson, who’s getting into the ultimate yr of his rookie contract. A bounce-back marketing campaign couldn’t solely assist vault the Browns’ protection again to the highest of the league however lead to a profitable contract for Emerson.
The Browns offered the primary shock of the NFL draft after they traded the No. 2 decide to the Jacksonville Jaguars to amass a 2026 first-rounder and transfer again three spots earlier than choosing Graham. In drafting the previous Michigan standout, Cleveland bought a participant it seen as an ideal match for its protection due to his potential to strain the quarterback and get within the backfield.
This offseason, Cleveland launched defensive deal with Dalvin Tomlinson and didn’t re-sign Maurice Hurst, so Graham may have the chance to make an early affect. It has been a transition for Graham, whose protection in Ann Arbor primarily requested its defensive linemen to carry blocks versus penetrate the offensive line. Graham by no means registered greater than 3.5 sacks in a single season in school, however Schwartz stated Graham has “some meat on the bone” to affect the sport extra as a move rusher. With Garrett attracting a lot consideration on the sting, there are many 1-on-1 alternatives for the Browns’ inside linemen.
“You are nearer to the quarterback once you’re a deal with. However there’s only some methods you possibly can actually fight a defensive deal with,” Schwartz stated. “And a type of is the middle slide. And if the facilities all the time slide into Myles, that gives a whole lot of alternatives for a participant there. We’ve to take higher benefit of these conditions than we did final yr.”
Shortly after releasing Tomlinson, the Browns changed him with Collins, signing the previous San Francisco 49ers lineman to a two-year deal price $20 million. In a protection that values inside linemen who can rush the passer, Collins might be a greater match than Tomlinson, who recorded six sacks in two seasons with Cleveland. Final season, Collins had the seventh-highest move rush win charge (12.7%) as an inside defender. The Browns led the league in 2024 with a 40% strain charge however Garrett was the one participant with at the least 20 pressures; Collins registered 27 with the San Francisco 49ers final season.
It took simply two practices for Schwesinger to exhibit the talents that led the Browns to pick him with the thirty third total decide. Through the second day of rookie minicamp, Schwesinger dropped again in protection along with his eyes on rookie quarterback Dillon Gabriel throughout a purple zone drill. Because the ball left Gabriel’s fingers, Schwesinger undercut a slant route by working again Pierre Robust Jr., intercepted the move and sprinted to the other finish zone.
Schwesinger, a former walk-on at UCLA, solely had one yr as a starter however was one of the productive linebackers within the nation. Of the 47 FBS gamers with at the least 100 tackles final season, Schwesinger’s 4 missed tackles had been the fewest. The Browns view Schwesinger as an ascending participant who can play each the run and move.
Linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, a 2023 Professional Bowler and workforce chief, will miss the whole lot of the 2025 season after the Browns positioned him on the reserve/bodily unable to carry out listing due to a neck harm he suffered final season. Like Graham, Schwesinger may carve out a big function early on as a rookie.
“Carson has a novel really feel to search out the ball and get it on the bottom,” linebackers coach Jason Tarver stated. “…What’s spectacular about him is how for a youthful participant, how nicely he takes care of his physique. He is extremely versatile and robust and you may see it in how he strikes, how he is in a position to hold his toes aside.”
The Browns in March launched Juan Thornhill after two disappointing seasons wherein he missed a mixed 12 video games due to accidents and did not file an interception. Cleveland has signed a pair of veteran safeties in Damontae Kazee and Rayshawn Jenkins, but it surely might be third-year participant Ronnie Hickman who steps right into a full-time function reverse security Grant Delpit in 2025.
As Thornhill was sidelined the final two seasons, Hickman sometimes stuffed his spot, and Schwartz has praised Hickman’s potential as a deep security. Schwartz stated Hickman, who initially joined the workforce as an undrafted free agent, has the ability set to file a number of interceptions within the Browns’ protection. In two seasons, Hickman has began 9 video games and recorded an interception that was returned for a landing, together with 4 move breakups. And in 2023, Hickman compelled a good window on 41.7% of targets, the best mark amongst safeties who had been focused at the least 10 instances.
“He is all the time been a ball hawk,” Schwartz stated. “Final yr there have been some accidents, issues that stored him from being on the sector. This can be a actually large season. He is in his third yr. He ought to actually hit his stride for us. … We’re a safety-heavy workforce. We run a whole lot of three-safety system, however we want Ronnie to deliver all of it collectively.”
