Browns Now Clear to Hire Joe Woods As Defensive Coordinator This Week, What That Would Mean Schematically
With the Super Bowl over, the Cleveland Browns are now clear to officially hire Joe Woods as their defensive coordinator, which should happen in the next day or few. Woods was operating as the defensive backs coach and passing game coordinator for the San Francisco 49ers, but not only has it been widely reported to have accepted the job, he's even answered questions about what he plans to do on defense in Cleveland.
In terms of alignment on defense, there will be a few changes, but much of it doesn't really matter from a practicality standpoint. It actually gives them more room for different styles of players on the defensive front. Wade Phillips has always called it a 4-3 under scheme, so it seems prudent to defer to him, though Woods could call it something else. There are three down linemen and often a declared rusher off the edge that stands up, which has some call it a 3-4. The reality is it doesn't matter, so long as sending the front four doesn't constitute a blitz, which makes it easier for data tracking. It's not worth anything to say the defense is blitzing around 99 percent of the time with a handful of snaps where a player drops into coverage.
Myles Garrett is going to have his hand on the ground as one edge player in a similar role as the one Bradley Chubb had with the Denver Broncos. Meanwhile, Olivier Vernon might stand up at the other end. He has experience doing it from his time with the New York Giants, but he's not Von Miller, so it will be interesting to see if he plays from a three-point more often.
Wilks was far more specific in the type of defensive linemen he wanted whereas the defense Woods has run doesn't. He could have his own traits he wants in them, but Genard Avery didn't fit in the Wilks scheme. He might fit the ones Woods has run. Because they utilize some standup edge rushers, they could look to add players that can do that while offering a little more range in a chase role.
One player worth keeping an eye on with Woods is Sione Takitaki. Trained as an off-ball linebacker last year, he has multiple seasons of experience as an edge rusher in college at BYU, almost exclusively from a two-point stance. Takitaki should still be looked at as a linebacker, but if he's not one of their best options in coverage, when the team shifts to a nickel look, he could theoretically shift to an edge rusher with Vernon at the other end and Garrett sliding inside next to Sheldon Richardson to put their best front out there to attack the quarterback.
Had Woods been running the defense when Takitaki was drafted, he might have looked at him as an edge rusher first. And if Woods wants to have Takitaki do some rushing, it would only make it one more reason for the Browns to re-sign Joe Schobert to be his voice on the field.
In the past two years, the Browns have gone away from undersized edge rushers, looking for bigger, thicker defensive ends that could hold up as more of a base end. Now, they could look to add help in that mold specifically for life after Vernon, which likely happens after this season. Additionally, if Chad Thomas is on the team, stressing the word 'if', he likely doesn't operate as a base end anymore, or at least not primarily. He could be looked to move inside, which always seemed to be his best fit anyway.
In terms of the linebacker position, the Browns may have three starting linebackers in their base defense, but they are going to be in a 4-2-5 just like when Wilks was running the defense. Now, it might be three corners as opposed to three safeties, depending on who the best players are. The Broncos had three terrific corners, so that's what they utilized. With the Browns, it may depend on what they feel is their best 11.
The secondary, which is where the overwhelming amount of experience lies with Woods, is also the most intriguing position group with the Browns. One of the criticisms of Wilks was running so much zone with corners like Denzel Ward and Greedy Williams, who are more suited to play man. Presumably, Woods will play more of a man based scheme going to the strengths of his corners.
The more interesting part of this equation is going to be the safety position. For one thing, who are the Browns going to have at safety? Everyone but Sheldrick Redwine is scheduled to be a free agent and they might bring back guys like Eric Murray or Juston Burris, but it's not clear if any of those three would be their preferred starting options. It's likely the Browns will be bringing in a handful of new safeties. Then it becomes about the roles he wants his safeties to play. The Broncos, for example, did have a free and a strong safety. Save for a scenario where the Browns let Schobert walk in free agency, the safety position has the most uncertainty heading into 2020.
The defense will look a little different in terms of some of their alignments and the types of players they utilize, but overall, it's not a huge schematic switch going to Woods, assuming he runs the same scheme he did with the Broncos. It will be a bigger adjustment for fans and media figuring out how to describe the scheme.
