Browns assistant GM Catherine Raiche: Players have embraced Jim Schwartz defense
CLEVELAND — Catherine Raiche's introduction to the NFL came in 2019 with the Philadelphia Eagles. At the same time, the Eagles had an aggressive defensive coordinator in his fourth season with the team: Jim Schwartz.
Schwartz left the organization after the ensuing season. Raiche stayed in Philadelphia through the 2021 season, before she, too, left the nest, so to speak.
Their paths have reconnected three years after they last worked together. Raiche was hired by the Browns last year as the assistant general manager/vice president of football operations, while Schwartz was brought on as their defensive coordinator in January.
What Raiche has seen from Schwartz's defense in his first preseason with the Browns is exactly what she's come to know from any of the defenses he's coordinated over the years.
"He's just been, honestly, getting the best out of our players just by the discipline he brings on that side of the ball, the way he’s coached, the way he keeps our defense simple but in a way that players can play fast," Raiche said after the Browns' Thursday practice at the stadium. "You've heard this, the whole seatbelt off, you've heard that I’m sure plenty of times. So, I mean, that's just what we've been seeing, and I think it's been really, really nice to see the players embrace this change."
The change, though, started with the players. Specifically, it started with the players the Browns front office have since added through various pathways.
They brought in defensive tackles Dalvin Tomlinson and Maurice Hurst II, defensive end Ogbo Okoronkwo and safety Juan Thornhill in the first 36 hours of free agency beginning in March. They added defensive tackle Siaki Ika and defensive end Isaiah McGuire in April's draft.
In May, they made two separate moves to add more established veteran help. They signed safety Rodney McLeod, who had played for Schwartz in Philadelphia, and acquired pass rusher Za'Darius Smith in a trade with the Minnesota Vikings.
That's eight new players acquired in the offseason, six of whom play along the defensive line. They added defensive tackle Shelby Harris, another veteran player, midway through training camp.
"I think one thing we pride ourselves into is being strong in the trenches," Raiche said. "So that's both on the offensive line and the defensive line. So one of our key objective in the offseason was to add some depth there and really be strong with guys that are athletic, can get off the ball, and I think that's what we're seeing from them this training camp."
The addition of Smith may have been the game-changer. There have been five players over the last four seasons in the league to get 10-plus sacks at least three of those seasons, and two of them — Smith and Myles Garrett — now start along the Browns defensive line.
Schwartz's "no-seatbelt" scheme is designed to allow players like Garrett and Smith to thrive by giving them the green light to basically pin their ears back at go at the quarterback. That was part of the attraction to making sure the Browns added a player like Smith to complement Garrett, the franchise's single-season sack leader.
"You've seen it through preseason," Raiche said of Smith. "He's going to be a problem for opposing offense. He can get off the ball, he can penetrate, he can set an edge, he can sub inside. So I think there's just going to be so much flexibility that he provides for our defense, and I think it's just going to be positive for the front."
Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on Twitter at @ceasterlingABJ
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Catherine Raiche sees 'embrace' of Jim Schwartz defense by Browns
