AP

The Browns are promising things are going to be different this time.

But they’ve now made official the hiring of a guy from one of the previous times they said things were going to be different.

The team announced that Ray Horton was their new defensive coordinator, reprising the role he had in 2013.

“I have always watched Ray from afar,” Browns coach Hue Jackson said in a statement. “We have known each other. I have competed against him. I remember my time in Cincinnati competing against him when he was here. The guy is a tremendous football coach. He knows this division. He was raised in this division. He played in this division. He understands what needs to be done to get our defense back to where it needs to be. I wanted somebody that knew the lay of the land and understood the division, understands the culture here and understands the change that we need to make and someone who can lead our young players and develop players to get better.

“His defenses have gone after the quarterback. They have been effective in stopping the run. They had a very good pass defense when he was here. That is what we need to do. We have some of the premier passers in this division when you talk about Ben Roethlisberger, Andy Dalton and Joe Flacco. We are going to have slow those guys down to have a chance to compete in this division. That is what we expect from our defense.”

Horton has 22 years of NFL coaching experience after a 10-year playing career. He spent the last two years as coordinator in Tennessee.

They were actually quite good on defense when he was last there, finishing ninth in the league in total defense (after ranking 23rd the year before).