Cleveland Browns: Defensive Shake Up Raises Questions

Seemingly allergic to continuity, the Cleveland Browns decided to replace their defensive staff one year into this latest regime.

The Cleveland Browns have officially announced the hiring of former Los Angeles Rams defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, thereby ending Ray Horton’s second stint as the Browns defensive coordinator, both tenures lasting only a single season. Along with Horton will go basically the entire defensive staff as Williams will have the authority to hire his own assistant coaches.

As questionable a decision as it was for Jackson to hire Horton, it was the move he made. Ultimately, this could prove to be a prudent move for the Browns, but it does raise a number of questions about Jackson and the team going forward. Hopefully, the Browns will be able to provide some clarity when they introduce Gregg Williams before they go off to coach the Senior Bowl.

For now, let’s look at some of those questions made by this latest shake-up.

Did Ray Horton ever really have a chance?

The Browns had eight rookies on the defensive depth chart, had a defensive line that was made up of Danny Shelton flanked by a role player in Jamie Meder and an outside linebacker playing the 5-tech end in Emmanuel Ogbah. They simply didn’t have the bodies.

This defense had historically bad written all over it from the start. Despite this dynamic, the defense never gave up, played hard through the final weeks of the season and individuals improved. The previously mentioned Shelton and Ogbah, Chris Kirksey, Briean Boddy-Calhoun, and Jamar Taylor (who received a contract extension)—to name a few—all progressed despite the overall lack of success.

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Just looking at the defense right now, assuming they re-sign Jamie Collins, the defense has substantial needs at the edges, 5-tech defensive end, 3-tech defensive tackle, cornerback, and free safety with reasonable questions about free safety. That’s five or six spots on the defense. Half the defense in need of starters. And they only had Collins for eight games. It seems like an impossible task to accomplish in one year.

What factored into this decision?

Relative to what he was given, Horton did a better job than Jackson did. The defense was expected to be terrible where the offense was supposed to be a relative bright spot. The quarterback is a mess and the offensive play-calling was horrible. Despite terrible quarterback play, Jackson insisted on leading with it in every single game.

If Horton stands accused of not maximizing the talent of his players, it’s easy to make the same case against Jackson. This simply wasn’t a good year for Hue Jackson as a head coach. The hope is year two will be better for the team as well as Jackson, but for as poorly as he did this year, his choice to switch defensive coordinators is an interesting one.

Similarly, if Horton was responsible for his own downfall, what was it he did or didn’t do that got him replaced?

One of Ray Horton’s trademarks throughout his career is his confidence. And there are plenty of times where it bleeds over into full-on arrogance.

When Horton was in Cleveland the first time, despite having rookies utterly confused on what they were doing at the end of the season because of how overloaded they were, Horton bragged at his final press conference that he hadn’t even put everything in yet. When he’s been asked about running a hybrid front, his retort has been that the only hybrid he uses is a golf club.

It’s not difficult for that to rub people the wrong way and it’s possible that is what happened here. Of course it’s not like that is news, especially since Horton had been in Cleveland previously, even if it wasn’t working for Jackson.

This could have been as simple as Jackson basically saying to Horton that he wanted to change certain things and Horton flat out refusing—that he didn’t want anyone meddling with how he ran his defense. And from that respect, perhaps Gregg Williams is a better fit for what Jackson wants.

Unfortunately, this is not likely a question that the team is going to answer, but something that may get leaked to someone in the media at some point. Nevertheless, it’s a question that everyone would like to see answered.

January 3, 2016; Santa Clara, CA, USA; St. Louis Rams defensive coordinator Gregg Williams before the game against the San Francisco 49ers at Levi /

What does this mean for Hue Jackson’s plan?

Hue Jackson has warranted credit for his overview and vision for the team. That takes a hit with this move. It’s difficult to talk about having a plan when after just one season, he is making major changes to the coaching staff.

Since this regime was hired, the talk centered around how they had a plan and how they knew where they were going. Unless Horton was hired just to be fired after a year (a dubious move in itself), this looks a major crack in the foundation of any plan.

It also raises a number of questions. The most obvious being just how secure of a hold does Jackson have on the head coaching job. It’s not unfair to speculate that if the Browns don’t improve again next year that he could be the next to go.

Despite the record and all the flaws with the team, there was reason to have some confidence the Browns would stay intact going forward. This would be the time they followed through with the plan as it was drawn up and let the people hired do their respective jobs to see if it could genuinely work. In some ways, that can still happen, but there is a lingering concern that the team will be blown up yet again if there isn’t a significant amount of improvement.

Does this ramp up the pressure on Hue Jackson?

The 1-15 record was expected, an unfortunate outcome but not a surprising one. That can be explained away within reason as part of a project largely built from scratch. The record combined with flushing an entire coaching staff on one side of the ball is a little more complicated.

Jackson hired Horton. Perhaps recognizing the mistake and working to correct it sooner than later, he’s making the switch now. Even so, it’s now fair to question Jackson’s ability to judge who can come in and be a good coach when half the staff is gone after one year (with the possibility that quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator Pep Hamilton will leave of his own volition for the same position at Michigan).

If the defense is still atrocious next year, the team has two defensive staffs in two years and little to show for it. The flip side of this is that Horton did a better job with what he had than Jackson did this year. If Williams follows suit and the offense is what is lagging behind in this equation, does Jackson then become the weak looking link?

Yes, Jackson will get credit for improving the defensive staff, but then it turns around on him as to why his offense is not better.

Is Jackson being hypocritical?

The last and perhaps the most disturbing part of this is the hypocrisy of Hue Jackson. This regime has made a genuine effort to bring in talented, athletic football players who are pretty clean off the field (something I genuinely applaud). The team has cut players who have been irresponsible off the field like Johnny Manziel and Armonty Bryant.

That same standard has not applied to coaches. Jackson made the ridiculous decision to have Art Briles come to Berea to be a guest coach for his team in the summer. Briles, now involved in a lawsuit after being fired from Baylor for allegedly trying to cover up any number of crimes against female students at the school.

In Williams, the Browns are hiring the coach that was busted for Bountygate with the New Orleans Saints. His reputation for being dirty doesn’t end there. After a game where Lamarcus Joyner knocked Teddy Bridgewater unconscious, Minnesota Vikings Mike Zimmer head coach referenced the history of Williams. Even a former player under Williams, Jonathan Vilma, said the reputation was earned.

And no, what Williams was punished for is nowhere near the level of what Briles has been accused. The problem is Jackson did bring in Briles and that set a tone, especially given his rationale for the move. Per Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com:

"“I’ve gotten to know coach Briles and he’s a tremendous offensive-minded football coach,” Jackson said Wednesday. “I’m always looking for different ways of doing things. What happened at Baylor’s at Baylor.”“I respect what you’re saying (about character) and understand that trail, but, at the same time, everybody deserves an opportunity to do what they do,’‘ said Jackson. “I respect everybody’s feeling and I don’t condone anything … but that’s not for me to judge. Again, the opportunity to pick his brain … and get to know him outside of all of that in a different capacity is what was important to me.”"

It’s just a completely tone deaf statement from Jackson. And while not actively condoning it, he’s allowing it to wear his team’s colors to be a part of his team, even if only briefly. If he’s ultimately found guilty for everything, Jackson had someone who actively covered up untold amounts of violence against women for the sake of his football program.

This screams players being held to one standard and his coaching brotherhood another. It gives the impression that Jackson will look past virtually any indiscretion within the coaching ranks as long as they can help him win.

This is probably unfair to Williams given what he actually did (and I’ll be the first to admit it), but that’s just how incredibly wrongheaded it was for Jackson to bring in Briles in any capacity. He loses the benefit of the doubt with a hire like this one because of just how irresponsible that move was.

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It was Hue Jackson’s move to make and he made it. Hopefully, Gregg Williams can come in and maximize the young talent that the Browns do have and build on it with talent they must add both in the 2017 NFL Draft and in the future. It’s a brave decision for the franchise as Jackson throws off the sheen of everyone being on the same page and has to take the criticism here for a quick hook on Horton. Hopefully it also proves to be a fruitful one.

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