The Cleveland Browns defense has been a complete failure this season and it should not be a surprise to anyone.
Five weeks into the 2022 season and the defense of the Cleveland Browns has been a complete disaster. A unit that some (wrongly) expected to carry the team until Deshaun Watson makes his team debut has been one of the worst in the league. Considering the construction and utilization of this defense this is far from a surprise.
The elephant in the room
Yes, Joe Woods. Three years in and the defense of Woods is worse than ever. Cleveland has given up 440 yards on the ground in the last two games, including over 200 to one of the worst rushing attacks in the league (Chargers). Time and time again there are missed assignments resulting in big plays and teammates blaming each other. Missed tackles are also an issue as they are one of the worst in this department currently.
In addition to the defense being needlessly complicated, the scheme is antiquated and archaic. Versions of this scheme have been successful in Seattle and San Francisco, but the talent level was far better than what the Browns currently possess.
Cleveland’s defense has some quality pieces, but they are not at the same level of what Seattle featured in their Legion of Boom era or what San Francisco did later. This is a failure on Woods to adjust his scheme to the talent on the roster and also a failure from the front office to provide quality players.
Botched process from front office
The front office of the Cleveland Browns has not addressed the defensive side of the ball in an adequate manner. Myles Garrett and Jadeveon Clowney were neutralized in Sunday’s loss and the expectation should be for that to continue. Cleveland has nobody that can pull their weight at the defensive tackle position and that appears by design. The Browns have essentially actively downgraded this part of the defense by not bringing in adequate players.
Cleveland’s defense in 2020 had Sheldon Richardson and Larry Ogunjobi anchoring the middle with Garrett and Olivier Vernon on the outside. This version of the defense was so much more impactful than the next two iterations. Attempting to swap out the middle for Malik Jackson and Malik McDowell was not a fruitful endeavor. Both are now gone (for good reason) and at this juncture feature who are below replacement level. Jordan Elliott, Tommy Togiai, Taven Bryan, and Perrion Winfrey are Cleveland’s defensive tackles this year and this is far from acceptable. The result from all of this? A defensive interior which cannot create pressure or even hold their ground.
While freeze-frames can be incredibly deceiving this is not the case here. This has not been a rare occurrence and has happened repeatedly through the first five weeks. Expect more teams to expose this very obvious weakness in the Browns defensive front until something major changes. Adding Deion Jones from Atlanta is a good start, but it is merely scratching the surface in terms of fixing the defense.
What can be done?
The only in season changes that can be made are adding help at defensive tackle or firing Woods. Both are absolutely necessary, but adding a defensive tackle or two seems more likely at this point. Despite the struggles of this side of the ball it does not appear that they will move on from Woods any time soon.
The only real band-aid that can be applied at this time appears to be Woods tailoring his scheme to match the talent and skillset of his players. Unfortunately that does not appear likely as the team has struggled into year three of his system with familiar struggles on a weekly basis. Expect more of the same unless a change of heart happens from Woods or those above him.
What about after the season?
The hope is to find a defensive coordinator who knows how to coach his players and not just a scheme. In addition to getting a new coordinator, Cleveland must address the center of their defense. As long as the Browns do not have a defensive interior they do not have a defense. That means utilizing sizable capital on middle linebackers and defensive tackles, something that this front office has shied away from for some bizarre reason. Adding NFL caliber players in these areas is absolutely mandatory if they want to become at least an average unit.
