Gregg Williams

The Browns hired Gregg Williams as their new defensive coordinator.

(Steven Senne, Associated Press)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Browns cornerback Joe Haden was looking forward to playing in the same defense for a second year in a row.

"When you come back in and everybody you're with is with the same defense, you've seen it before, so now we're just trying to take it to the next level," he said before the team's final game of the season in Pittsburgh, back when it felt like there wouldn't be significant coaching changes. "It's not still trying to learn it and people get to move faster, the secondary, the linebackers, the safeties, instead of trying to figure out what our checks are, we're looking at the offense trying to figure out what they've got going."

Ultimately, though, if you go 1-15 and the only defense in the league worse than yours is Jim O'Neil's in San Francisco, something's gotta give, even if it is in the name of sacrificing continuity. So it is that Ray Horton is out, Gregg Williams is in and Haden and Co. are going to need to learn a new defense.

There has been and will be plenty of time devoted to talking about scheme, stability -- or lack thereof -- and, sure, all of that matters. But the success of this defense is really about one thing, and head coach Hue Jackson laid it out pretty plainly: "I need growth over there as fast as I can get it."

Player development. It's the area in which the Browns are trying to make a big push and an area that they've lacked in for years. The instability of the front office and head coach contributes to that. New leadership isn't invested in developing players they didn't draft or sign. This current Browns regime, though, is heavily invested in a draft class from last season that featured five defensive players, four of whom were seeing playing time by season's end and one -- in safety Derrick Kindred -- who would have been had he not hurt his ankle during the bye week. (Defensive back Trey Caldwell missed the season's final game after climbing to the active roster the week prior.)

The Browns will add even more youth to their defense in the upcoming draft, perhaps as high as the top pick if they decide that Texas A&M's Myles Garrett is simply too good to pass up. On top of that, they have a bevy of other young players -- some that they brought in and some that were left over -- who still have work to do.

"The plan is to improve these players every way that we can," Jackson said. "I would hope that our young players do take the next jump next year and become huge contributing members to our football team. As I said, we are going to put other players on this football team who as well need to be developed and placed within our system and play extremely well and play extremely hard. That is what I am chasing."

You can have all the stability in the world and run a perfect scheme, but the NFL is about one thing -- talent. You aren't winning if you don't have talent and the Browns need to see jumps from many of their young defenders this offseason.

We saw glimpses under Ray Horton. Christian Kirksey is the most notable, though how much of that can be attributed to him simply getting more of an opportunity -- playing almost every defensive snap for the first time in his career -- is up for discussion. Danny Shelton took a step forward, as well, though he didn't become the "numbers to the numbers" playmayker Horton wanted. He will need to continue to grow heading into his third year, a year that, if a leap is going to happen for a young player, it tends to happens then.

More importantly, the Browns will need Carl Nassib to look more like the player we saw early in the season than the one we saw as the season went along and defenses adjusted. They'll need cornerback Briean Boddy-Calhoun to shore up his overall coverage abilities to go with his obvious ability to get the football. They need Kindred to grow into a safety that can intimidate across the middle consistently while not getting out of position, something that caused him to lose playing time quickly in the middle of the season.

There are other players with real question marks, too. Can Williams and his staff salvage Xavier Cooper, who found himself a healthy inactive at times this season? Will Nate Orchard, who couldn't win a starting outside linebacker job out of training camp, turn into a factor there coming off a season shortened by injury? How will role players like Jamie Meder grow?

Then, of course, there's Emmanuel Ogbah, who began to blossom when he moved back to his more natural defensive end position. He ended the season with 5.5 sacks, the fourth highest total for a Browns player in his rookie season. This is where it should be noted that Kamerion Wimbley tops that list with 11 sacks. In other words, there are no guarantees that Ogbah's arrow, as coaches like to say, continues to point up. He needs to take steps forward, too.

Not every player will pan out and sometimes, despite an organization's best efforts, a player just isn't good enough. For a team going heavy on youth and draft picks, though, they can't afford too many misses.

This offseason will not only test the organization's ability to pick the right players, but also their ability to develop players already in their building. Those two things, more than anything else, will determine how good their defense can ultimately become.

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