The 3 best defenses the Cleveland Browns have had since 1999
By Chad Porto
The Cleveland Browns have not been known for their great defenses since 1999 but we found three worth celebrating.
The Cleveland Browns have just hired a brand new defensive coordinator in Jim Schwartz, and the hope is that his arrival will help the Browns turn around their defense. That’s the hope, anyway, but the team has got to invest money into the unit, something that hasn’t been the priority for Andrew Berry.
Outside of Myles Garrett and Denzel Ward, the team really doesn’t have a lot of money invested in defense. Of the top 12 highest-paid players heading into 2023, only three are on defense. Garrett, Ward and John Johnson. The rest are all offensive players. It’s beyond obvious that the team has favored the offense in all of its moves, investing in mid-to-late-round picks to fortify the defense, while using a few front-end picks to bolster the secondary.
As far as big names or big contracts go, outside of Johnson and Jadeveon Clowney, the Browns have not ponied up the money for top-flight players. They lost out on J.J. Watt, Trey Hendrickson, Shaq Barrett, and Leonard Williams. While how much interest there was with them was always up in the air, it was clear they weren’t throwing big money deals at guys.
Clowney signed for just $7 million in year one, while Johnson is on a $33 million deal over three years, but Berry did his Berry-thing and made sure the Browns are paying for that deal long after it ends, with nearly $14 million owed to Johnson after this year, the final year in his deal.
So it’s understandable why the Browns don’t currently have a good defense. Bad contracts, lowball offers on big names, and relying on fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh rounders to start. Gee, no wonder the last guy looked so bad. It was almost like he wasn’t given the talent he needed.
So, unless something changes going forward, the Browns in 2023 will likely be just as bad on defense as they were in 2022. So let’s look back to three times the Browns had a good unit.