The Cleveland Browns’ new coaching staff will be facing a steep learning curve in its first season together. Not only is Todd Monken one of the oldest first-time NFL head coaches in history, but offensive coordinator Terry Switzer and defensive coordinator Mike Rutenberg have never held those roles before at any level.
So, the Browns will do anything they can to make their transitions easier. Monken and Switzer have something of a head start, having worked together the past three seasons with the Baltimore Ravens.
Rutenberg, on the other hand, is not only coming in fresh, but he is also replacing highly successful coordinator Jim Schwartz under difficult circumstances. That is one of the reasons longtime NFL coach Dom Capers has been hired as a senior defensive assistant.
Former NFL defensive back Solomon Wilcots is raving about the Browns’ recent staff addition, calling the 75-year-old “a phenomenal coach.”
“I’m a big Dom Capers fan. Dom is so good when it comes to the details, a wonderful teacher. This is a guy who has been part of some really great defenses. Dom Capers is a phenomenal coach,” Wilcots said.
Rutenberg and Capers worked together with the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2019. Rutenberg was the team’s assistant linebackers coach, and Capers was a senior defensive assistant.
Rutenberg spent last season as the defensive passing game coordinator for the Atlanta Falcons, after four seasons as the New York Jets’ linebackers coach. Capers was a senior defensive assistant with the Carolina Panthers for the past three seasons.
The Browns have to be hoping that their prior relationship will help Rutenberg with the duties of a defensive play-caller. Several assistants remained on Cleveland’s staff, including Jason Tarver and Ephraim Banda, which should help with the overall transition as well.
Wilcots played under Capers in 1992, when he was the defensive coordinator for the Pittsburgh Steelers. That was just one stop in a lengthy career that included time in the same role with the Jaguars, New Orleans Saints, Miami Dolphins and Green Bay Packers, with whom he won the Super Bowl in the 2010 season.
Capers was also the first head coach in Carolina Panthers history, and then the first head coach in Houston Texans history, so he has plenty of experience getting a new staff to adapt to each other.
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