The Cleveland Browns are appointing Mike Rutenberg, currently the Atlanta Falcons’ defensive passing game coordinator, as their next defensive coordinator, an insider close to the league shared with ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler.
Rutenberg, aged 44, assumes the position from Jim Schwartz, who held the role for the preceding three seasons but stepped down after being overlooked for the head coaching vacancy, which was ultimately filled by Todd Monken.
This appointment will signify Rutenberg’s initial tenure as a defensive coordinator. He recently concluded his inaugural season in Atlanta, following four years as the linebackers coach for the New York Jets.
Rutenberg is set to inherit a defensive unit that has been among the NFL’s premier groups under Schwartz’s direction. In 2025, the Browns secured the fourth position in overall defense, conceding an average of 283.6 yards per contest. Over the last three campaigns, Cleveland has permitted the lowest yardage across the league. The squad is prominently led by Myles Garrett, a two-time Defensive Player of the Year, Denzel Ward, a five-time Pro Bowl selection, and Defensive Rookie of the Year Carson Schwesinger.
Monken conveyed during his introductory press conference that he does not foresee modifying Cleveland’s defensive strategy. Browns co-owner Jimmy Haslam indicated that, for the most part, he anticipated the majority of the Browns’ primary defensive players and defensive coaching personnel would remain for the 2026 season.
Rutenberg, a Cornell alumnus and a native of Washington, D.C., commenced his professional journey in the NFL as a player personnel intern for Washington in 2003. He subsequently served as an administrative assistant to head coach Joe Gibbs before working as a graduate assistant at UCLA from 2006 to 2008. From 2009 to 2012, Rutenberg then functioned as the passing game coordinator and defensive backs coach at New Mexico State.
In 2013, Rutenberg re-entered the professional football league as the assistant defensive backs coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars, a role he held from 2013 to 2015. He then acted as a defensive assistant for the subsequent two seasons prior to his elevation to assistant linebackers coach, a position he occupied for another two seasons. By 2020, Rutenberg had joined the San Francisco 49ers in the capacity of their pass game specialist.