Joe Woods is heading into his second season as the Browns’ defensive coordinator, but this year’s unit doesn’t look a lot like the one he oversaw last year.
The Browns signed free agents like John Johnson, Jadeveon Clowney, Anthony Walker, Troy Hill, Malik Jackson and Takk McKinley before taking cornerback Greg Newsome and linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah with their first two draft picks. They’re also getting cornerback Greedy Williams and safety Grant Delpit back from missing all of last season due to injuries.
It all adds up to a lot of new pieces and Woods will be charged with making sure the unit jells ahead of Week 1. On Thursday, he expressed confidence that it will happen.
“It’s our job as coaches to teach these guys the scheme, the techniques that we’re using and to rep it. That’s what the offseason is for. That’s what training camp is for,” Woods said, via Nate Ulrich of the Akron Beacon Journal. “You’re going to have things that you run across -- adversity throughout the season -- but I feel as long as we can establish our defensive scheme and guys can execute, I feel like it won’t be as much of a problem as people may think.”
Expectations are higher for the Browns this year than they have been in a long time and Woods will have to be right for the team to have its best chance of realizing them.