Preordained?

Well that didn't take long.

In a move that suspiciously looked preordained, the Browns made veteran National Football League coach Jim Schwartz their new defensive coordinator Tuesday, a mere eight days after dispatching Joe Woods to the rolls of the unemployed.

The swiftness with which the move took place strongly suggests it was Schwartz's job to lose. It fell into place way too quickly. The Browns acted in this manner almost as though they were afraid they were going to lose him.

The front office also did its due diligence by interviewing minority candidates Brian Flores of Pittsburgh, Seattle's Sean Desai and Dennard Wilson of Philadelphia. As it turned out, none had a chance for this opening.

For what it's worth, I preferred one of the younger candidates instead of the 56-year-old Schwartz. I believe the players would respond better to someone closer to their age. 

So why Schwartz? He brings to Cleveland a reputation for fixing talented defenses that underperform. Sound familiar? Woods failed miserably the last three seasons. It'll be Schwartz's main job to completely change the culture on that side of the football.

Numerous players complained last season they weren't being turned loose. Those complaints fell on deaf ears. It was almost as though head coach Kevin Stefanski bothered too much with the offense and unwisely trusted Woods. He was the head coach in name only.

The dreaded zone defenses of Wood that often confused members of the secondary will be replaced with man-to-man pass coverage expected to improve the pass rush. The run defense improves once General Manager Andrew Berry makes up for the mistake he made last season by ignoring defensive tackle.

Schwartz, a devotee of the 4-3 front as was Woods, brings along a welcomed belligerent attitude toward opposing offenses for the first time since Gregg Williams coordinated the defense in 2018 before taking over as the interim head coach when Hue Jackson was fired.

It will be interesting to see what latitude, if any, the new coordinator will be given free rein to form a staff with which he feels comfortable.

There are those among Browns fans not exactly thrilled with this move, remembering Schwartz's five-season stint as head coach of the Detroit Lions several years ago during which he produced four losing seasons. He should be judged as an assistant coach and coordinator, not a head coach.

After entering the NFL way back in 1993 as a personnel assistant to Browns head coach Bill Belichick, Schwartz went on to coach for Baltimore, Tennessee (twice), Buffalo and Philadelphia, where he coordinated the defense for the Super Bowl LII champion Eagles in 2018.

One more situation worth keeping an eye on. It's based strictly on a hypothetical. If Stefanski continues to encounter problems from a win/loss standpoint, Schwartz is the the only one on the coaching staff with head coaching in his background who could be looked on as heir-apparent if Stefanski is dismissed during the season.

This time, it would behoove Stefanski to be a head coach and stay in constant touch with Schwartz at all times rather than trust him to concentrate on the offense. The payoff there with Woods were three seasons of bad defense and back-to-back losing seasons.