The scheme only works, though, if there are other good players in the front seven, too. Otherwise, the extra space only means more time for the quarterback to locate his target or for a running back to spot his hole.
The Browns will surround Garrett this season with new players such as DT Dalvin Tomlinson, a 6-foot-3 and 317-pound behemoth who has been stable in plugging rushing lanes the last six seasons, and DE Ogbo Okoronkwo, who is a breakout-year candidate after totaling five sacks in his last eight games last season with the Texans.
At linebacker, the Browns are largely set to run it back with Anthony Walker, Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, Sione Takitaki and Jacob Phillips after all four players rarely played together last season due to injuries.
“(Schwartz) has the guys behind us cleaning everything up and making sure they’re coming downhill and that we’re causing chaos, they’re cleaning everything up behind us,” Garrett said. “I think that’s how it surely functions.”
Garrett has only been able to spend three days talking with Schwartz about those schemes since the voluntary offseason program began. He called those interactions “positive” and has liked what he’s heard so far, although the work has quite literally just begun.
“We’ve been talking scheme a little bit, as far as what he expects out of me, where I’m gonna line up and what kind of positions I’ll be in on first and second down,” he said. “We haven’t really talked about third down yet. Just how he’s planning to change my playstyle, which from how we’ve talked, not that much.”
That’s fine. It’s hard to change a player already as great as Garrett, but if he’s going to get any better, it’s going to come from the whole Browns defense showing growth.
And Garrett believes Schwartz has the blueprint for unlocking that.
“He knows he has some great guys on the back end as well, and he’s excited for the opportunity to utilize all of us,” he said. “I know he’s going to make the most out of the talent he has in the room,…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at News…