BEREA, Ohio (AP) 鈥� Myles Garrett hasn鈥檛 met his new head coach, but he has at least talked to his new defensive coordinator.
鈥淚 knew that would be a question. I鈥檓 going to leave a lot of that interaction between me and Myles. There has been some. Yes,鈥� Mike Rutenberg said on Wednesday after the Cleveland Browns concluded their fifth voluntary organized team activity practice.
Garrett, a two-time AP Defensive Player of the Year, usually doesn鈥檛 show up for any of the offseason workouts until the start of the mandatory minicamp. However, Garrett鈥檚 absence has drawn more scrutiny, considering this is Todd Monken鈥檚 first year as head coach and Rutenberg replaced Jim Schwartz, who resigned after being passed over for the head coach opening.
Schwartz was the architect of one of the league鈥檚 top defenses for three seasons. Cleveland led the league in total defense in 2023 and ranked fourth last season, as Garrett had 23 sacks and .
Monken said last week that he hadn鈥檛 yet had a face-to-face conversation with Garrett.
鈥淚t is voluntary, and we respect the voluntary aspect of it. Whatever team you鈥檙e on, your team, my daughter鈥檚 softball team, I鈥檇 love everybody to be around, but I also understand people have different things,鈥� Rutenberg said. 鈥淚鈥檝e had great communication, and I鈥檓 excited for when everyone鈥檚 here to put it together.鈥�
Rutenberg, who was Atlanta鈥檚 defensive pass game coordinator last year, said he has also talked to cornerback Denzel Ward, who isn鈥檛 expected to be here until the first minicamp practice on June 9.
鈥淢y interaction with all the players has been unbelievable. You ask about Denzel, it鈥檚 been great. Really excited having gotten to know him and to continue to get to know him,鈥� Rutenberg said. 鈥淎ll the players, whether they鈥檙e here or not, has been great just getting to know guys, investing in each other, sharing our stories and just learning who they are.鈥�
Even though Schwartz is gone, Monken retained most of the defensive assistants from Kevin Stefanski鈥檚 staff. Rutenberg鈥檚 philosophy is similar to Schwartz鈥檚, emphasizing an attacking style with some tweaks here and there.
Defensive tackle Mason Graham said his early impressions about Rutenberg are that he is a player鈥檚 coach.
鈥淗e wants us to talk to him. He鈥檚 another one of us on the field, so I really like his energy. He brings a lot of juice to defense, and I feel like that鈥檚 a good thing for us,鈥� Graham said.
Quincy Williams already has a feel for what Rutenberg wants, having been together in Jacksonville and with the New York Jets. The veteran linebacker said the key is for the rest of the group to gain confidence in the system, even though some of the star players won鈥檛 be around for another two weeks.
鈥淭he biggest thing is also it鈥檚 a newer scheme, so you鈥檙e playing with people who are starting to get their confidence, and then you鈥檙e also playing with a couple of people that already have their confidence,鈥� he said.
Defensive tackle Mike Hall Jr. tweaked his right knee during a walkthrough period before being taken to the locker room. The team said it is not believed to be serious, but he was held out of most of the session as a precaution.
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