The Cleveland Browns will be hiring Jim Schwartz as their defensive coordinator, thus passing over Steelers senior defensive assistant and linebackers coach Brian Flores for the job, NFL Network reports.
After multiple rounds of interviews, the news comes on the heels of Flores gaining steam in the Arizona Cardinals head coaching job, where he has surged forward to the co-favorite along with Sean Payton for the job in the betting market. That could have dissuaded the Browns was trying to hire him if they believe he will land that job after seeing Flores’ ties with new Cardinals general manager Monti Ossenfort.
Related: Cardinals Connection: New GM Hire Could Land Brian Flores in Arizona
Brian Flores has an interview for the Falcons’ vacant defensive coordinator position as well. Meanwhile, Schwartz comes over from the Tennessee Titans, where he was a senior defensive assistant for the team since 2021. In the past, Schwartz was the head coach of the Detroit Lions and was last a defensive coordinator with the Philadelphia Eagles from 2016 to 2020 before being deciding to leave the team on his own accord.
Schwartz won the 2017 Super Bowl with Philadelphia. In order to hire him, Flores joined other candidates such as Seattle’s Sean Desai and Philadelphia’s Dennard Wilson. Schwartz runs a base Cover-1 and Cover-3 scheme that frustrates receivers with plenty of press coverage up near the line of scrimmage.
Cleveland will need some adjustments in order to fit what Schwartz does well, but he is an accomplished defensive coordinator when they badly needed an upgrade over Joe Woods in recent seasons. That should bring some welcome changes for Cleveland.
As for the Steelers, they get to keep Flores for now. With Flores as part of its coaching staff, the Steelers’ defense ranked 13th in the league in yards allowed per game this season (330.4) and 19th in passing yards allowed (222.3). The unit graded out in the top 10 in both rushing yards allowed (108.1) and points per game (20.4).