{"id":479277,"date":"2026-02-16T22:01:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T22:01:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/479277\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T22:01:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T22:01:12","slug":"who-is-mike-rutenberg-what-to-know-about-the-browns-new-defensive-coordinator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/479277\/","title":{"rendered":"Who Is Mike Rutenberg? What to Know About the Browns\u2019 New Defensive Coordinator"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Browns made a major addition to their coaching staff on Monday afternoon, hiring Mike Rutenberg to be the team\u2019s next defensive coordinator. The move was first reported by NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Cleveland has had quite the offseason for itself thus far, firing head coach Kevin Stefanski and replacing him with Todd Monken<\/a>\u2014a move that reportedly angered then-DC Jim Schwartz<\/a>, who was a candidate for the top job, and ultimately caused him to leave the organization entirely<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Now, at just 44 years old, Rutenberg has a tall task ahead of him as he gets set to take over one of the league\u2019s top defenses. On the topic, let\u2019s get to know Ruten<\/p>\n

How did Mike Rutenberg get his start in the NFL?\"Mike<\/p>\n

Rutenberg began his NFL career with Washington in 2003. | Photo by Getty Images<\/p>\n

Rutenberg is a native of Washington, D.C., and attended the Landon School in Bethesda, Md., before going on to attend Cornell University from 1999 to ’02\u2014where he played sprint football as a linebacker for the Big Red.<\/p>\n

Upon graduating, Rutenberg began working in the NFL as a player personnel intern with Washington in 2003. One year later, he was promoted to an administrative assistant role for then-head coach Joe Gibbs, a position he held for two seasons. <\/p>\n

While working for Gibbs, Rutenberg was reportedly his right-hand man<\/a>, \u201cputting together the team’s daily calendar, practice schedules and meeting presentations, [and working] hand-in-hand with Gibbs to research opponents from a statistical standpoint.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rutenberg has since gone on to have a well-rounded career as a defensive assistant. Let’s dive into it.<\/p>\n

Where has Mike Rutenberg coached?\"Mike<\/p>\n

Mike Rutenberg has coached in the NFL since 2003. | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Rutenberg has experience working at both the professional and collegiate level, bouncing back-and-forth from the NCAA to the NFL throughout his career. Here\u2019s a look at each of his stops:<\/p>\n

2003: Washington (NFL) — Player personnel intern2004 to \u201805: Washington (NFL) — Administrative assistant to the head coach2006 to \u201808 UCLA (NCAA) — Graduate assistant2009 to \u201812: New Mexico State (NCAA) — Passing game coordinator, DBs coach2013 to \u201815: Jaguars (NFL) — Assistant defensive backs coach2016 to \u201817: Jaguars (NFL) — Defensive assistant2018 to \u201819 Jaguars (NFL) — Assistant linebackers coach2020: 49ers (NFL) — Passing game specialist2021 to \u201824: Jets (NFL) — Linebackers coach2025: Falcons (NFL) — Defensive pass game coordinatorWhat can we expect the Browns\u2019 defense to look like under Rutenberg?\"Myles<\/p>\n

The Browns’ defense has a new leader in Mike Rutenberg. | Sam Greene\/The Enquirer \/ USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Rutenberg has worked under long-time NFL defensive coordinators Robert Saleh and Gus Bradley throughout his career, two veterans of the trade that, as outlined by ESPN\u2019s Daniel Oyefusi<\/a>, use similar defensive fronts that the Browns utilized under Schwartz. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d expect that to remain intact,\u201d Oyefusi added. \u201cThe Browns were impressed with Rutenberg\u2019s knowledge of all three levels of the defense and ability to add some wrinkles.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coverage-wise, Saleh and Bradley have been known for majoring in post-safety coverage, a.k.a. middle-of-the-field closed (MFC), which often translates into either Cover 1 or Cover 3. As Oyefusi points out<\/a>, the only team that played a higher rate of Cover 1 than Cleveland in 2025 was Atlanta\u2014where Rutenberg is coming from. <\/p>\n

Long story short? Look for the Browns\u2019 defense to be more of the same in 2026, just with a new face calling the shots. <\/p>\n

More NFL on Sports Illustrated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Browns made a major addition to their coaching staff on Monday afternoon, hiring Mike Rutenberg to be…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":479278,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[436],"tags":[49,48,514,82],"class_list":["post-479277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=479277"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479277\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/479278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=479277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=479277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=479277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}