Steve Wilks is expected to bring an aggressive approach to the Cleveland Browns, with lots of blitzing. (Christian Petersen, Getty Images)

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CLEVELAND, Ohio -- After the official hiring of Freddie Kitchens on Saturday, the Browns followed that up by making defensive coordinator Steve Wilks official as well. Wilks comes to Cleveland following just one season as the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals.

Before his arrival in Arizona, Wilks led a successful defense in Carolina in 2017. His focus has primarily been in the secondary -- Wilks played defensive back at Appalachian State in the late 1980s -- throughout a career that started in the college ranks, and worked its way through Chicago and San Diego before arriving in Carolina in 2012.

Wilks prefers the 4-3 base defense, which the Browns ran under former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams. The big difference will be the route Wilks goes with his secondary behind the front seven: Wilks prefers to play more zone coverage.

Wilks' approach will be similar to Williams' in his desire to generate pressure through blitzing. According to Pro Football Focus, Wilks blitzed on 51.1 percent of snaps. which is the highest mark of any team in the last two seasons.

In Arizona, with his defense being run by Al Holcomb -- Wilks' linebackers coach in Carolina -- the Cardinals brought the blitz on 45.5 percent of snaps. The amount of pressure brought from the second level from down to down will feel similar to Browns fans.

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BASE 4-3

Wilks will often apply the common base 4-3 with two high safeties. The Panthers played Cover-4 (defensive backs each covering a fourth of the field) around 22 percent of the snaps with Wilks calling their defense.

The Panthers' strength lied in their linebacker play with Luke Kuechly, Thomas Davis and Shaq Thompson. Wilks played a higher percentage of base with this group, as it made sense with strong linebacker play.

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BASE 4-3 (SAFETY HELP)

Against heavy running-back and tight-end packages, Wilks will roll his strong safety down into the box to provide run support. This should look familiar to a look the Browns often gave under Williams.

When the Panthers do blitz, they often use Cover-3 and Cover-1 (man free) looks to the opposing offense.

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2017 Carolina defense

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In Carolina, Wilks loved mixing up his pressure looks with walked-up linebackers and defensive backs off the edges. They used a tactic called "sugar the A-gaps" meaning they will walk their two inside linebackers into the gaps on each side of the center. This look can cause serious protection confusion. From the look, the Panthers disguise who is coming off the snap, and it gives quarterbacks headaches.

Here, Green Bay's Aaron Rodgers has no idea which defenders are coming as the Panthers bring a blitz through the Mike (middle) linebacker and two edge rushers. It forces Rodgers off his spot and into a fading incompletion to his right.

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The beauty in pressure looks is that even when you don't bring more than the base number of defenders, it causes the quarterback to feel rushed at times. Here, Carolina brings just one extra rusher off the right side and it causes Rodgers' eyes to drift right off the snap. Once his answer has been covered there by rotating coverage, he is late driving this ball to his left.

When you get quarterbacks' eyes going to the wrong spot, it allows the front those vital seconds to get home and generate pressure, and it can cause quarterbacks to make the wrong choice, as we see here on the interception.

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Under Williams, the Browns rarely used Cover-4. It will be a welcome sight for fans in passing downs, as it is designed to take away the deep middle, where the Browns were gashed so often in a good amount of their Tampa-2 cover looks.

The Panthers did a much better job of pattern matching in their defense instead of spot dropping. This is a tougher task for defenders, as it involves trying to locate and run with routes the offense puts out each snap, but it makes for tougher throws for opposing quarterbacks.

The matching here allows for Colin Jones (No. 42) to run under the vertical by No. 3 in the trips look.

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2018 Cardinals defense

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Under Holcomb's direction, but with a heavy influence from Wilks, the Cardinals ran many looks very similar to the 2017 Panthers. They didn't have the linebacker talent the Panthers did the year before (not many teams do), so Wilks and Holcomb used nearly 90 percent sub packages to make up for this.

With the many of the same looks we saw in Carolina, the Cardinals generated pressure through disguise. Watch as they drop the defensive end to take away Mitch Trubisky's immediate answer and allows the pressure to get home.

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Again, the Cardinals -- in their sub package -- bring edge pressure on third down. Wilks loves to bring pressure on third down. They go Cover-1 (man-to-man) behind the pressure and also twist their front four linemen. The twist, combined with edge pressure, makes for a muddy line of sight for the opposing quarterback and the pressure gets home.

This aggressive approach is very common week to week.

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The Browns' front will have many opportunities to generate pressure. With as often as Wilks brings extra blitzers, you will see him stunt them often and then drop them into coverage. It puts the opposition's pre-snap to post-snap protection under fire and makes quarterbacks speed up their thought process.

Here, the simple speed rush gets there on Patrick Mahomes after the threatening linebackers drop into coverage.

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FINAL THOUGHTS

What will be interesting for Wilks in Cleveland is how his approach and his desire to fit players into roles will work with his "defensive DNA."

It was a large part of the problem in Arizona.

The Cardinals hired a 4-3 coach to take over a defense built for the 3-4, and where it showed its biggest impact was on the front. As far as alignments go, there is little difference within sub packages from snap to snap, but the personnel change can impact the interior of a defense.

Under Holcomb, who had full control and called plays, the Cardinals took a major step back in run defense. They ranked in dead last in several categories. In Carolina, Wilks led a top-five run defense, and the front was able to control the line of scrimmage most weeks.

The Browns have a need to improve against the run, and it will be a heavy emphasis in player acquisition and draft needs this offseason.

Wilks' Carolina defense did surrender passing yards, while the Arizona defense was one of the better overall pass defenses. The goal for Wilks will be to find some balance.

Expect him to again be the aggressive coordinator who will bring extra defenders to confuse opposing quarterbacks, but the emphasis will need to be on more man-to-man with the likes of Denzel Ward in coverage to create more turnovers.

If Wilks can mesh the performance of his Carolina run defense with his Arizona coverage success, it could lead to a highly effective result for the Browns.

Williams was notorious for his fear of being beaten deep. He aimed to keep everything in front of his defense and play the "bend-but-don't-break" style.

That will not be Wilks. He thrives on the aggressive approach, and it is a philosophy that the Browns coveted about the coordinator in the interview process. The defensive talent is skilled and fast in Cleveland, and the front office and Freddie Kitchens want them to be attacking in 2018.

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Jake Burns played quarterback at the collegiate level and also has coached at both the high school and college levels. You can read more X&O analysis from Burns at the OBRand VikingUpdate.com.