Jim Schwartz happy in Cleveland, but 'you always aspire to the top of that profession'

BEREA — The good and the bad of being a successful football team awaits the Browns this month.

The good comes with an impending playoff appearance. With that comes opportunities like Sunday's regular-season finale at the Cincinnati Bengals, where the Browns plan to use the essentially meaningless game to rest several key players to prepare for the postseason.

The bad comes with the knowledge there's going to be interest in some of the assistant coaches, especially coaches whose side of the ball has been one of the best units in the entire league from the start of the season.

So, essentially, coaches like defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz, who was asked Thursday about his own personal desires to return to the head-coaching ranks.

"Well, first of all, I’m really happy here," Schwartz said. "I talked about [coach] Kevin [Stefanski]. I haven’t really talked about [general manager] Andrew Berry or the Haslams, but I love this organization. I love the city of Cleveland. … But I’d say this: In any job that you do, you always aspire to the top of that profession. And I’m no different there."

The Browns defense is ranked No. 1 in the league in yards allowed per game (165.9), passing yards allowed per game (266.6), first downs a game (14.4), third-down efficiency (29.4%) and fourth-down efficiency (40%). It's 10th in rushing yards allowed (100.6).

That defense has been the season-long reason why the Browns are 11-5 and secured as the No. 5 seed in the AFC playoffs. They clinched that spot with this past Thursday's win over the New York Jets, which Schwartz — who spent three years with the Browns in 1993-95 as a personnel scout for then-coach Bill Belichick — acknowledged as a special moment in his own career.

"That was such a great atmosphere," Schwartz said. "(Spent) 31 years in the NFL. That was one of my top five atmospheres that Thursday night. We needed to share that with the players. We got a lot of energy from them. We needed to give them a little energy, pay them back. Not many chances you have to be able to clinch at home."

Schwartz, 57, has been a head coach before in his career. From 2009-13, he guided the Detroit Lions to a 29-51 record.

However, included in that time in Detroit was a 10-6 playoff season in 2011. It was the Lions' first playoff trip since 1999.

Schwartz has been a defensive coordinator with the Tennessee Titans, Buffalo Bills, Philadelphia Eagles and Browns. He was part of a Super Bowl-winning team with the Eagles in 2017.

A health issue led Schwartz to step away from being a coordinator for a couple of seasons in 2021 and 2022, but Tennessee coach Mike Vrabel brought him on to be a senior defensive assistant in those years to keep him connected to the game. That led him back to Cleveland as the replacement for Joe Woods as the defensive coordinator.

"I could not cheat the game," Schwartz said of his health issues during his introductory press conference last January. "I could not give a substandard performance. It was not fair to the organization. It was not fair to the players. It was not fair to the other guys coaching staff. It was a very difficult decision, but I had to step away.

"The Titans and Mike Vrabel were very gracious to give me an opportunity to still contribute while I was sort of dealing with that stuff. I feel good. I am ready to go again."

Schwartz's addition to the Browns has unlocked the talents of not just All-Pro edge rusher Myles Garrett, but also that of cornerbacks Denzel Ward, Greg Newsome II and Martin Emerson Jr. His emphasis on playing man-to-man at a rate higher than most in the league plays to their individual strengths as well.

The combination of the increased pass rush from not just Garrett, but the entire defense line, and the coverage skills in the secondary has made the defense's performance this season range from elite to borderline historic. That started from the very first game of the season, when they limited the Bengals to just 142 total yards and quarterback Joe Burrow to a career-low 82 passing yards.

"Yeah, man, huge impact," Ward said of Schwartz. "More than I could probably even speak of in this moment. I'm very appreciative of coach Schwartz and just who he is as a person coming into this organization and the demands that he placed on us and his coaching style and just how he's helped develop my game this year. I do feel that he's one of the key reasons that helped take my game to the next level this year and just, I don't know, like I said, I can't say enough great things about coach Schwartz."

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: Jim Schwartz happy with Browns, but doesn't hide head-coaching desire