The Cleveland Browns may have struggled to score during the 2025 NFL season, but the defense kept them competitive weekly. Cleveland’s defense was one of the best units in the league, riding behind superstar Myles Garrett and a defensive line that was able to control the line of scrimmage.
Garrett put on a historic season, breaking the single-season sack record despite facing numerous double and even triple teams. Garrett was eventually unanimously voted the NFL Defensive Player of the Year and shows no signs of slowing down heading into the 2026 campaign.
It wasn’t always just Garrett wreaking havoc, though, as the rest of the Browns’ defense did its part to stifle opposing offenses. Toward the end of the season, Cleveland needed depth along the defensive line, so they brought back a familiar face in defensive tackle Maurice Hurst Jr.
Hurst appeared in two games for the Browns and added solid rotational depth for a team that needed it.
While Hurst played sparingly, he described what makes Cleveland’s defense different compared to other teams.
“It’s also just having that extra gas in the tank. Those games that we have that are just like mind-blowing and like super crazy stats. Like, one first down in four quarters, those stat games that’s where we’re playing, I don’t know, anywhere from between like 60 snaps, maybe, 70 snaps,” Hurst said.
"It's having that extra gas in the tank." #DawgPound@MoHurstJr speaks to what makes the Cleveland Browns' defense DIFFERENT. 💪 pic.twitter.com/WfwEBP74ln
— BIGPLAY Cleveland Show (@BIGPLAYCLEshow) March 8, 2026
As Hurst noted, Cleveland’s defense lived off the splash plays and momentum-changing plays late in games that seemed to push them forward. Any time a team can get stops in crucial moments, it motivates and galvanizes the players to dig deeper and finish the job.
That sort of mindset and attitude will serve the Browns well in 2026, assuming they continue to build on their foundation on both sides of the football.
As of today, it looks like Cleveland will need to take at least one more season to get things back in order, but the future looks a lot brighter than it previously did.
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