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Browns' defense rekindles success in 2025 season | Team Coverage

Cleveland set a franchise record with 53 sacks this season

Jan 07, 2026 at 11:16 AM

Noah Monroe

Staff Writer Intern

Browns defense EOS Team Coverage 1.6 Article

During training camp, CB Denzel Ward said the Browns' defense needed a "hungrier mindset" to be a top defensive unit in the NFL in 2025.

After finishing the 2024 season allowing the 14th-most total yards in the NFL, the Browns met Ward's challenge in 2025. Cleveland finished the season allowing the fourth-fewest total yards per game and the third-fewest passing yards per game in the NFL. Ward credited third-year defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz for the resurgence, as Cleveland finished as a top five defense in the NFL in two of his three seasons with the Browns.

"Coach Schwartz, he's a great coach. He has helped my game tremendously," Ward said. "He puts us in a great position, great leader, and I can't say enough great things about him. I think he's a guy who you want as a coach and somebody to lead a team."

Part of the Browns' defensive success in addition to Schwartz was DE Myles Garrett's historic destruction of offenses. Garrett recorded 23 sacks, breaking the NFL single-season sack record in Week 18 against the Bengals. He achieved the record by attaining 15 sacks in five games from Week 7 to Week 12, including at least three sacks in three of those games. He recorded half a sack in nine consecutive games, consistently creeping towards the record.

Garrett's historic season opened opportunities for the rest of the defense by commanding consistent attention from opposing offensive lines. Cleveland notched a franchise record 53 sacks, breaking the 49-sack record from the 2023 season.

DT Maliek Collins benefited from playing beside Garrett on the defensive line as he notched a career-high in sacks with 6.5. Collins' season was cut short due to a quad injury in Week 13 that ended his season.

"Maliek is not only a really good player, but also a really good person who is a leader on our defense, a leader in the defensive line room," Browns Managing and Principal Partner Jimmy Haslam said.

Collins' leadership has been vital to young players like rookie DT Mason Graham. The pair started next to one another on the Browns' defensive line and helped plug up the middle of the field. The pair combined for 14 tackles for loss, while Graham was second behind Garrett with 49 total tackles.

"I learn a lot (from him)," Graham said on Nov. 28. "He has been on a few teams now, kind of seen it all, plays a lot of snaps and has played a lot of football. I rely on that guy a lot, also Shelby Harris too. So, I have a few older vets that I rely on, so that always helps just picking their brain and working with them on their styles."

Another rookie that was hoisted into a starting spot from Week 1 was LB Carson Schwesinger. After LB Jordan Hicks retired on the second day of training camp, Schwesinger competed for defensive play-calling duties. Schwesinger won the job and was a force in the middle of the field.

He finished the season with 146 combined tackles in 16 games, the eighth-most in the NFL. He added 2.5 sacks, 11 tackles for loss, three passes defensed and two interceptions, contributing all over the field for the Browns. As a result, Haslam said that Schwesinger, "has a really good chance to be the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year."