Jim Schwartz Teases Defensive Line Looks

Cleveland Browns defensive coordinator spoke to the media on Wednesday for the first where football activities were happening. Perhaps football adjacent since as he pointed out, the defense can't do too much until they have pads. Naturally, Schwartz talked about the defensive line and discussed having five-man pass rush looks.

When asked about Za'Darius Smith and what his presence could do for their defensive front, Schwartz noted, "You’ll probably see five guys in pass rush a lot of times. We’ll probably have five of them out there. We’ll drop a guy occasionally, but we’ll play some down-five stuff, and that all goes back to the corners that we have. And it’s hard to play five-down if your corners aren’t any good. We’ve got good corners, and we’re going to rely on those guys, too. So it’s all part of the pass rush."

Schwartz talks about two different looks he wants to employ to rush the passer. The Browns will have five defenders on the line of scrimmage. Some of the time, it will be a true 50 front with five defensive linemen lined up against the offensive line. They will also use four defensive linemen with a linebacker as the extra player.

The latter is something Joe Woods utilized with the Browns, especially in 2021. Woods would have a linebacker over a guard with the rest of the defense lined up one on one against the remaining offensive line. The linebacker might blitz or drop into coverage, but it forced the guard to be honest to the possibility he was coming. Unless there was extra help in the form of a tight end or running back, this created one on one situations for the rest of the line. Even if the guard was able to help somewhere else, it would be delayed.

For a player like Myles Garrett, he could be on the side going three on three and make it difficult to double him. Schwartz might do it differently and put the linebacker over the center or even outside the tackle, but the concept remains the same. Force the protection to be honest to five threats even if only four were coming to get beneficial matchups.

Utilizing a true 50 front has been relatively uncommon in the NFL, but it's seen a resurgence lately. The Philadelphia Eagles used a true 50 front this past season to get more of their defensive linemen on the field as a means to put their best 11 players on the field. They had so much talent in that group, this was an avenue to use more of them.

This allowed the Eagles to isolate their enormous rookie nose Jordan Davis on the center while creating one on one matchups for the rest of the front. Teams either had to keep in more to protect or get the ball out fast. Even if they kept in extra help, it wasn't going to do the interior much good if the defensive line was powerful enough to collapse the pocket. The quarterback has to get rid of the ball faster which could allow the corners to make more plays, creating more opportunities for turnovers.

Consider what the Browns are bringing to the table this year on defense. Dalvin Tomlinson was a key acquisition in the offseason. They can put him over the center where he's been the most efficient in his career rushing the passer. Behind him, they have Siaki Ika, who Schwartz has said he wants to get up field. This helps to illustrate what that might look like. The center can't go anywhere and has to take on the full force of either Tomlinson or Ika.

Ogbonnia Okoronkwo is going to likely line up against one of the tackles as is Myles Garrett, though he can certainly attack a guard or the center if they choose. Za'Darius Smith can and has lined up against both guards and tackles.

Additionally, it might explain why the targeted Maurice Hurst and Trysten Hill in free agency. Jordan Elliott might find success in this setup as well. Alex Wright and rookie Isaiah McGuire could line up against guards.

They can still employ a multitude of line stunts to further confuse the offensive protection and create favorable matchups for their premier threats.

It also makes it difficult to believe the Browns won't keep 10 defensive linemen when they cut down rosters to 53 ahead of the season. They need all the bodies they can get to keep up their rotation even when everyone is healthy, let alone when they aren't.

This also suggests the Browns will only utilize one linebacker in these true 50 fronts. They're going to want to have at least five defensive backs on the field and the Browns have depth at both corner and safety.

It's interesting that Schwartz noted this is only for passing situations. That probably fits the personnel they have right now. If they were to add another veteran body inside, it might make it easier to be more aggressive with these types of looks. For now, the Browns seem content to play with four and rely more on their linebackers to perform that function.

As with anything Schwartz wants to do with on defense, it's all predicated on being able to stop the run, something the Browns failed to do last year. It also wouldn't hurt if the offense can score a ton of points.