Cleveland Browns are showing interest in taking one of Kevin Stefanski’s top Falcons assistants to replace Jim Schwartz
The Cleveland Browns are in search of a new defensive coordinator and have been connected to an Atlanta Falcons assistant.
The Cleveland Browns landing on Todd Monken as their head coach caused some fallout when the decision was made. As a result of hiring Monken, the Browns lost defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz.
Cleveland knew that hiring Monken and passing over Schwartz for the head job could cause this. The Browns attempted to repair things but were unable to do so.
The Browns have already conducted in-house interviews with safeties coach Ephrahim Banda and linebackers coach Jason Tarver. Now, the Browns are looking at a member of Kevin Stefanski’s staff with the Atlanta Falcons.
Browns look to the NFC South at a potential option to replace Jim Schwartz
According to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, the Browns have requested to interview Falcons defensive pass-game coordinator Mike Rutenberg for their open defensive coordinator position. Rutenberg had previously been in the mix to be the next DC for the Tennessee Titans under Robert Saleh.
The Browns hiring away a top assistant from Stefanski’s staff would be quite the coincidence. Rutenberg is a 44-year-old defensive-minded coach who just joined Atlanta following the hiring of Stefanski. Rutenberg had spent the previous four years as the linebackers coach for the New York Jets.
Rutenberg got his start in coaching as a player personnel intern with the Washington Commanders organization in 2003. He was a graduate assistant with UCLA in 2006 for three seasons, then spent four years as defensive backs coach at New Mexico State. Rutenberg was an assistant defensive backs coach with the Jacksonville Jaguars from 2013 to 2015.
From there, Rutenberg was the assistant linebackers coach. In 2020, Rutenberg worked as the pass game specialist for the San Francisco 49ers.
Additional names to watch in the mix are Carolina Panthers defensive pass game coordinator Jonathan Cooley and Rams associate head coach Aubrey Pleasant.
Expect the process to wrap up later this week with the Browns landing on Schwartz’s replacement. A much shorter search than the one that was run to find Monken.
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