Browns defensive line injuries have increased, but here’s why Jim Schwartz isn’t worried about snap counts and rotations
BEREA, Ohio — It turns out, Jim Schwartz accounted for this exact scenario all along.
The Browns defensive coordinator has been a mastermind all season and a big part of that has been his meticulous rotations of eight defensive linemen.
So is it really that surprising he knew there would very likely come a point where he might have to lean heavier on the guys at the top of his depth chart in the event of a slew of injuries?
“Some of the discipline from early in the year, we talked about Myles (Garrett),” Schwartz said Thursday. “I can’t remember which game it was, but he played a really high number of snaps. It was before his shoulder was injured. But we said you can do that if you have the discipline to pace yourself at times early in the season. So I think we have benefited from that. We’ve tried to keep some reps off of those guys, and as you get late into December and January football, those guys can click up.”
It’s the position Cleveland now finds itself in after losing three defensive linemen in one game.
Maurice Hurst (pectoral) is done for the year after undergoing surgery on a torn pectoral muscle. Ogbo Okoronkwo (pectoral) is likely lost for the season for the same reason. Jordan Elliott remains in the concussion protocol after exiting Sunday’s game. And that’s to say nothing of the fact that they’ve already had a scare with Garrett, who injured his left shoulder so badly against the Broncos that he exited that stadium in a sling — he’s returned in the two subsequent contests, however, a break for all parties involved.
With those absences, as it stands right now, it seems the best course forward for the Browns will be relying more heavily on Garrett and Za’Darius Smith by upping their snap counts.
According to Pro Football Focus data, Garrett has played the most defensive snaps of any Cleveland lineman this year at 628. Through 13 games, that’s a pretty good job of managing his load — in each of the last three seasons, he played at least 816 defensive snaps.
Smith (459 snaps) and Okoronkwo (432) are right on par with one another, with Smith the starter opposite of Garrett and Okoronkwo, the third edge rusher.
Alex Wright has been the fourth edge rusher that Schwartz is working in this year, but there’s a dropoff with his snap count at only 199.
“I don’t look at it as I got more reps to do,” Wright said. “I mean, once you’re called upon, that’s your job to make sure that stuff keeps stacking up. I don’t really look at it as a lot of stuff going my way. I just look at it as we got a game to play and the reps, they’re going to come. So I got to do what I got to do to take advantage of every single rep. So that’s just play to the best of my abilities every single snap.”
In addition to more snaps for Wright, it also likely means a bigger opportunity for rookie edge rusher Isaiah McGuire. The Missouri product has been active for just one game, the win over the Cardinals, and played 15 total snaps. He showed something in that game though, with Schwartz still bringing up the way he ran into quarterback Clayton Tune and forced an interception.
On the interior, there’s an opportunity for another rookie too, in Siaki Ika — the third-round selection who Schwartz promised during the draft that he would be a Ferrari in this system instead of a dump truck. He hasn’t been active on any of the Browns’ 48-mangameday rosters this season with the D-line rotation set.
Ika told cleveland.com this week that he feels ready for the opportunity, and has taken as many mental reps as he can working with Hurst, Elliott, Dalvin Tomlinson and Shelby Harris.
“That’s what this whole thing has been about up until now for me, coaches and everyone upstairs made it clear that the time’s going to come,” Ika said. “So when it does come, I just have to make sure I’m ready. So that’s all it’s been for me these past couple of weeks.”
Schwartz reiterated that they have the confidence that both rookies can produce under new circumstances.
“Isaiah McGuire has played and made plays for us when he played, forced an interception,” he said. “Siaki hasn’t played yet, but I have great confidence that he’ll play well. It’s really just been a numbers game for him. It has nothing to do with his availability and him being ready because he’s ready to play, he’s ready to contribute, and that’s what this game is.
“Get an opportunity and make the most of it. So excited for those guys.”
