Defensive Coordinator Jim Schwartz (11.20.25)
Well, what more can you say about Myles Garrett, the season that he’s having? And have you ever seen anything like it?
“He’s got a lot more to give and super proud of him for where he is right now, but this isn’t the final story yet. He’s doing a really good job within the scheme and like I’ve told you guys before, I’m always most proud of the way he plays the run as opposed to how he rushes the passer. And there’s a lot to be proud of, the way he rushes the passer. But to have the production he has, with the opportunities he’s had and also with the attention that he receives, it’s fun to watch.”
Why do you say there’s more to give?
“Because we got a lot more games to play, and there’s a lot more great things he can do for us. So that’s sort of where I am with it. We don’t need to postmortem for the season before the final chapter’s been written and he’s got a lot of chapters to write.”
That said, do you feel like, especially after challenging him early this offseason, after he got the contract, do you feel like he’s playing at the highest level that you’ve seen him since you’ve been here?
“He’s playing at a high level. Myles has always played at a high level, but I do appreciate his attitude of working hard to improve. You know, I told that anecdote a couple weeks ago, being on the practice field and just, like, not wanting to come off and waving any sub out, which, again, is really unusual. I know you guys like to talk a lot about who gets first team reps, but in that case, that was…it’s fun to watch, but he’s still hungry. He wears it really well. He knows he’s a marked man. And, I think, number one, he’s also really done a good job of celebrating the other guys around him, which has probably allowed him to have a little bit more success. I don’t know that his pass rush win rate has really improved a lot. But having some other guys up there that he encourages, that he works with, has made a big difference, more particularly our inside pass rush.”
Jim, what about Alex Wright? Got a new deal, so he’s here for the long run.
“Yeah, really, really proud of Alex, too. Alex has played really good football for us and just been derailed by a couple injuries, most notably the one last year, and was really being productive. We really missed Alex last year. Number one, he is a physical presence in the run game. He’s got great size. You know, some of our best plays on the edge are Alex taking on pullers and knocking tight ends back. And, those are things we really value. And he’s rushed really well for us, too, and been a good complement. You know, a lot of times we look at individual performances. You know, it’s hard to ignore Myles’ individual performance, but when it’s all said and done, D-line has a lot of, like, O-line components to it in that it’s the production of the group. And like, generally offensive line, it’s not just one guy that gets beat or one guy that has success, and it’s pretty much the same way across the defensive line and Alex has played a really strong part of that. We have a good rotation up there. Hopefully we’ll be able to get him back on the field pretty quickly. But, yeah, and I think it’s a good sign also, when you’re drafting and developing your players, we know how hard it is to sign those guys. You know, pass rushers aren’t cheap, finding those guys in the free agent market. So, I think it’s a good sign for us that we’re developing some players and getting production out of guys like Alex and Zay (Isaiah McGuire) and Cam (Thomas) and all across the board. ”
Jim, what about Carson (Schwesinger) getting the NFL Rookie of the Week honor and, you know, Grant (Delpit) today, and I think after the game mentioned playing at like an all pro level, not just a rookie of the year level. Like, what do you think in that regard and of that assessment?
“Yeah, I gave him a big compliment on Monday because I was with Ray Lewis his first three years in the NFL. I don’t think – and Ray’s obviously a Hall of Famer, maybe the best ever to play in the linebacker position, but the command that Carson has now in a lot of respects took Ray’s third year in the league before…and middle linebacker is hard, linebacker is a hard position to play for a young player. You have to have all of the run fits, you have to have the physicality to play there. You have to be a productive tackler. You have to know all the blitzes. You have to have all the coverage components. And a lot of times it takes guys sort of piecemeal to put all of that stuff together, right? You know, they come out as rookies and you know why, they really play the run well, but they don’t work on the pass, or they don’t really rush well. And that’s no disrespect to any player that’s ever played. It’s just that’s what goes on in the NFL. It’s a very difficult position and he’s been right in the middle of it, and it’s been fun to watch because not only does he do all that stuff well, but he has great command. He’s a great leader for us. He’s our play caller, very rarely makes a mistake. When he does make a mistake, it doesn’t repeat and he’s very productive on the field, so that’s well deserved from him. But, you know, a little bit like were talking about, Myles, that’s not going to stand alone for this season. We got a lot of football to play and there’s a lot of plays left for Carson to make. You know, we talked earlier and you guys saw a lot of training camp, and you saw the interceptions and plays on the ball. And early in the season we weren’t seeing that. And we just said, it was just a matter of time because the guy’s a magnet for the ball. And we’ve started seeing that recently, too. Game changing plays like that. So really proud of his development. Really big hats off to him. Big salute to Coach (Jason) Tarver, who does a great job with the linebackers in general, but to get a rookie producing at that level is pretty significant.”
How impressive was that play he made with Lamar in his space?
“I mean, that’s going to be on my teach tape for how to play the zone read the way that we play it. There’s a lot of different ways people play, like some people surf the defense, end, some people do a chase scrape, and some people have dedicated guys. But the way we played it there, that’s exactly how you want to play it. And you know, that’s not an average quarterback out there. I mean, that’s an open field nightmare. And, you know, you could just see Carson just load up pressure out there, took proper leverage, got off the block, started the game with that. They weren’t, they didn’t go back to it as the game went on, and I think that had a lot to do with it. Yeah, but there’s a lot of players over the next however many years that are going to see that play, because anytime you put plays like that on tape, coaches use that to say, like, ‘okay, this is the technique we’re talking about. This is how we want it to be played. Hey, let’s take a look at some plays on tape.’ We call them teach tape plays, and that was one of them.”
Jim, on the Mark Andrews play this past Sunday, with as much of a copycat league that this is, and the attention of the tush push the past couple years, you think we’ll start seeing more variations, kind of like what the Ravens did.
“Yeah, I mean, they ran one week before, two weeks before, where they tossed the ball back and when it’s all said and done, everything you do has strengths and weaknesses as far as, you know, what it’s designed for, what it’s good for. And, you got fourth and inches right there and get a chance to get a stop and stop a quarterback sneak, you got to take that shot at it. If there was a defense that stopped everything, offenses would never score a point. But we did miss a recognition on that. We got to get players across when that push guy doesn’t push when he goes to the outside, we should mirror that. We didn’t in that, and we were a little too aggressive on the sneak, and it set us up for that. But schematically we could have, can we stop that play for zero, in that defense, maybe not, but we shouldn’t give them a touchdown, maybe stop it for three or four, but who knows the way that goes – you know, they pick up first down there and try and clock out, and all of a sudden they’re kicking a field goal maybe with two seconds left and, you know, lose. So, you know, we’re never trying to give up a touchdown, you know, but at least offense had a chance to have time and go make that play. I’m not trying to make light of it or anything else. We got to stop that play. We can play it better. But the philosophy there was take the easiest play away which is quarterback sneak in that situation, try to make them do something else. We just didn’t play well enough when they did because most teams don’t want to go sideways on fourth and inches, particularly in that situation. They did, they made the play. Hats off to them.”
So the Raiders have a really good tight end, really good rookie running back. They’re down like one receiver. So does that simplify the defensive game plan?
“No. It’s never easy when you’re facing those kind of guys, particularly (Brock) Bowers. He might be the best pass receiving tight end in the league right now. He runs like a wide receiver. He runs great routes, he has great instincts to set down zones. He’s good down the field, you know, so we got our work cut out for us with him. They really missed him when he was out early in the season. Their offense really took a big step back and now they have him back. So, and I’d say this with the running back, (Ashton) Jeanty is his tape looks a lot better than his stats. You know, you look at his stats, he’s averaging 3.7, which, you know, isn’t great. But then you watch his tape, and you don’t see where that is because that guy is breaking tackles, making people miss. You know, there is like nothing to hit on him. He’s like a bowling ball out there. 5’8 and change and 215, 220 pounds. He’s a power running back. You know, I think that he’s going to be a good player. But just like every week we got to try to stop the run. We got to try to force them to throw it and take his part of the run game away. They’re a really good line zone running team and that would be a great challenge for us.”
# # #
***Visit the Browns Media Center for materials provided by the Browns communications department, including media schedules, press releases, quotes, photos, media guides, rosters, depth charts and more.***