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Cleveland enters the 2026 NFL season having stripped its defense of its most recognizable piece, yet the unit may emerge sharper for it. Trading reigning Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett to the Los Angeles Rams was an organizational gut punch, but new defensive coordinator Mike Rutenberg inherits a roster that remains structurally sound.
Jared Verse slots in along the defensive front, Carson Schwesinger, the reigning Defensive Rookie of the Year and No. 93 on the current NFL Top 100, anchors the linebacker corps alongside newly signed Quincy Williams, and the secondary retains Denzel Ward, Grant Delpit, and Ronnie Hickman. Second-round rookie Emmanuel McNeil-Warren is also expected to feature in three-safety packages alongside Delpit and Hickman.
What Rutenberg offers is something neither Garrett nor Jim Schwartz could provide on their own: a schematic identity built on unpredictability. Under Schwartz, Cleveland ranked last in the NFL in coverage in the quarters and in zone blitzes.
Opponents eventually learned to game plan around that rigidity, even with Garrett commanding double-teams on nearly every snap. Rutenberg spent the 2025 season coordinating Atlanta's passing defense under Jeff Ulbrich, where the Falcons ranked in the top five in both coverage categories, per Next Gen Stats.
Atlanta also ran single-high coverage on 61 percent of snaps, third-highest in the league, trailing only New Orleans and Cleveland.
Rutenberg's coverage background makes him the ideal successor at a critical juncture
Rutenberg's coaching roots trace back to 2003 with the Jacksonville Jaguars, where he began his NFL career as an assistant defensive backs coach under Robert Saleh. He followed Saleh to San Francisco and then New York, absorbing a defensive philosophy centered on a disciplined four-man rush, an approach that mirrors what Schwartz long preferred in Cleveland.
That familiarity gives veterans a foundation to build on while Rutenberg layers in new wrinkles. ESPN's Ben Solak argued the coverage versatility Rutenberg developed may actually be the most undervalued aspect of the Garrett trade's return:
"Rutenberg will breathe schematic freshness into Cleveland without sacrificing the identity of what has been a phenomenal unit in the past few years. And with the Garrett trade, that schematic freshness might suddenly become more necessary."
The Browns ran one of the NFL's most predictable defenses for years and still ranked among the league's most efficient units. That performance came with Garrett functioning as a force multiplier, drawing attention that freed everyone else.
Without him, deceptive zone looks and secondary blitzes must compensate for diminished edge pressure. The secondary's existing single-high structure pairs naturally with what Rutenberg ran in Atlanta, meaning the schematic transition carries less risk than the personnel change suggests. Cleveland's defense may not be better on paper, but it could become considerably harder to prepare for.
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