Browns defense getting up to speed with new scheme despite absences of Garrett and Ward

BEREA, Ohio (AP) — Myles Garrett hasn’t met his new head coach, but he has at least talked to his new defensive coordinator.

“I knew that would be a question. I’m going to leave a lot of that interaction between me and Myles. There has been some. Yes,” Mike Rutenberg said on Wednesday after the Cleveland Browns concluded their fifth voluntary organized team activity practice.

Garrett, a two-time AP Defensive Player of the Year, usually doesn’t show up for any of the offseason workouts until the start of the mandatory minicamp. However, Garrett’s absence has drawn more scrutiny, considering this is Todd Monken’s first year as head coach and Rutenberg replaced Jim Schwartz, who resigned after being passed over for the head coach opening.

Schwartz was the architect of one of the league’s top defenses for three seasons. Cleveland led the league in total defense in 2023 and ranked fourth last season, as Garrett had 23 sacks and broke the NFL single-season record.

Monken said last week that he hadn’t yet had a face-to-face conversation with Garrett.

“It is voluntary, and we respect the voluntary aspect of it. Whatever team you’re on, your team, my daughter’s softball team, I’d love everybody to be around, but I also understand people have different things,” Rutenberg said. “I’ve had great communication, and I’m excited for when everyone’s here to put it together.”

Rutenberg, who was Atlanta’s defensive pass game coordinator last year, said he has also talked to cornerback Denzel Ward, who isn’t expected to be here until the first minicamp practice on June 9.

“My interaction with all the players has been unbelievable. You ask about Denzel, it’s been great. Really excited having gotten to know him and to continue to get to know him,” Rutenberg said. “All the players, whether they’re here or not, has been great just getting to know guys, investing in each other, sharing our stories and just learning who they are.”

Even though Schwartz is gone, Monken retained most of the defensive assistants from Kevin Stefanski’s staff. Rutenberg’s philosophy is similar to Schwartz’s, emphasizing an attacking style with some tweaks here and there.

Defensive tackle Mason Graham said his early impressions about Rutenberg are that he is a player’s coach.

“He wants us to talk to him. He’s another one of us on the field, so I really like his energy. He brings a lot of juice to defense, and I feel like that’s a good thing for us,” Graham said.

Quincy Williams already has a feel for what Rutenberg wants, having been together in Jacksonville and with the New York Jets. The veteran linebacker said the key is for the rest of the group to gain confidence in the system, even though some of the star players won’t be around for another two weeks.

“The biggest thing is also it’s a newer scheme, so you’re playing with people who are starting to get their confidence, and then you’re also playing with a couple of people that already have their confidence,” he said.

Defensive tackle Mike Hall Jr. tweaked his right knee during a walkthrough period before being taken to the locker room. The team said it is not believed to be serious, but he was held out of most of the session as a precaution.

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