The difficult part of the Cleveland Browns’ head coaching search was figuring out a way to keep Jim Schwartz on staff even if he didn’t wind up getting the head coaching gig. Unfortunately, that ship has now sailed and the Browns won’t have the opportunity to retain him after he recently sent in his resignation papers.
Cleveland’s front office was reportedly hoping that after hiring Todd Monken, it would be able to find a way to keep Schwartz in his defensive coordinator role despite how upset he was that he didn’t become head coach. Now that Schwartz’s decision is final, the Browns unfortunately have to start searching for other candidates, and NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport recently tossed out a couple of names who could be ideal replacements.
Rapoport stopped by The Insiders to do a little pre-Super Bowl media and touched on a number of topics, including Cleveland’s DC situation. He reiterated how Cleveland wanted to make things work with Schwartz, but now that he is gone, there are a couple of exciting options with the Houston Texans who are worth a look.
“A couple good candidates to take a look at: Dino Vasso, rising young coach for the Houston Texans. Same system, Cory Undlin, same team, same system, also a Jim Schwartz disciple. Couple names to keep an eye on in Cleveland,” Rapoport said.
From The Insiders on @NFLNetwork at Radio Row: The #Browns will keep the same defensive system, but not Jim Schwartz. He resigned today. pic.twitter.com/Cmb2p9Cd9V
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) February 7, 2026
The Houston Texans had the best defense in the NFL this past season and wreaked complete havoc on all their opponents from all levels of their defense. By every metric, they dominated week in and week out, and it’s only a matter of time before their defensive coaches start taking promotions elsewhere.
Vasso is their defensive backs coach and Undlin is their defensive passing game coordinator. Houston led the league in fewest yards allowed, ranked sixth in passing yards allowed, and third in takeaways, and both Vasso and Undlin deserve plenty of credit for that dominance.
If Cleveland takes the same approach for the DC hiring as it did with the Monken hiring, this could be a fairly long and exhaustive process. None of that matters as long as they find the right guy who can continue building on the incredible foundation Schwartz helped establish.
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