The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Coach expecting good things from rush
The Browns’ defensive line from March through May underwent a facelift like an aging Hollywood star camping out in the office of a plastic surgeon.
Defensive end Olivier Vernon and defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson are no longer Browns. Defensive tackle Larry Ogunjobi signed with the Bengals in free agency. Richardson is back with the Minnesota Vikings.
Ends Takkarist McKinley and Jadeveon Clowney signed oneyear contracts with the Browns in free agency. Defensive tackles Malik Jackson, Marvin Wilson and Malik McDowell were key additions in free agency.
EVP of Football Operations Andrew Berry did not stop there. He used a fourth-round draft pick on defensive tackle Tommy Togiai from Ohio State.
The more looks the Browns can give up front, the tougher they can make life for opposing quarterbacks and running backs.
“We want to be able to affect protections,” defensive coordinator Joe Woods said June 17 on the final day of mandatory minicamp in Berea.
“I experienced that with (Broncos outside linebacker) Von (Miller), (former NFL defensive end) D-Ware (Demarcus Ware), (Buccaneers OLB) Shaq Barrett and (Broncos OLB) Bradley Chubb in Denver.
“There’ll be ways if we know we’re getting certain protections that we’re going to work on a couple of guys. We can move guys around and create the one on ones that we want. That’s what excites me the most is really just digging back into those packages when we have our pass rush unit out there in passing situations and doing what we want to do.”
Clowney is the most intriguing addition to the defensive line. He has never had a 10-sack season in seven years in the league, but the plan is to start him opposite Myles Garrett with the idea teams won’t be able to double-team both of them without opening rush lanes for the defensive tackles.
Clowney, 28, and McKinley, 25, are both trying to restart their careers. This is Clowney’s fourth team in four years (Texans, Seahawks and Titans previously). McKinley, a firstround draft pick by Atlanta in 2017, fell out of favor with the Falcons last season. He spent time with Las Vegas after being waived but did not play for the Raiders.
“When they put the highlight tape on the other day, I was like ‘Oh, these guys are making a lot of plays across the league,’” Clowney said on Zoom. “For them to be on the team with me, I’m very excited about the rotation of the group.
“The backups can come in and play just as good as the ones, and that’s even better. Anytime you have that going on, you have a good group. It reminds me of when I watched San Francisco, the same team a couple of years ago that went to the Super Bowl and that defense. I’m thinking we can do that up front.”
Only seven teams allowed more passing touchdowns than the 31 the Browns yielded in 2020. Likewise, the Browns’ defense ranked 23rd in stopping opponents on third down, allowing a conversion rate of 43.90 percent.
“Last year, there were a whole lot of things you can say, but we have the mindset of no excuses and no explanations,” Woods said. “Just based on practice time and players available (last year), there were certain things that we weren’t able to get to, but now moving forward, we’ve already started the process in the offseason of installing some new defensive packages and some new cover schemes, just so we can dictate the tempo a little bit more.”
Opponents possessed the ball for an average of 65.7 plays a game last season, ranking the Browns 23rd in that category. The Packers’ defense at 60.3 allowed the fewest plays per game.