Vegas odds<\/a>, and his absence in the regular season finale won\u2019t impact that fact. <\/p>\nTeammates and coaches have continued to stump for him to win the award, and on Friday head coach Kevin Stefanski reiterated that he thinks the rookie has played at an All-Pro level.<\/p>\n
\u201cName a level \u2013 the answer is yes, he\u2019s an All-Pro,\u201c Stefanski said. \u201dHe looks like the other All-Pros out there, and for him to do it as a rookie in the middle of this defense has been incredible. If it sounds like I\u2019m stumping for him, I am. But I just have a hard time imagining there\u2019s another rookie out there that had the impact at the level he had for the amount of games.” <\/p>\n
All of that is to say, Schwesinger is plenty aware of the noise, even though it hasn\u2019t been his focus.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou hear it because, I mean, like Mason just walked by and says it,\u201d Schwesinger said. \u201cSo obviously I know what\u2019s going on, but at the end of the day, the goal for me was to be able to go out there and play as best as I can when I take the field. <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd if that\u2019s the result, that\u2019s great, I\u2019ll take it. And I think it\u2019s an honor to have that. But really the goal, looking back on the year, I want to look back and be like, I got better each game, I helped contribute to a great defense, and if I can be able to say that, I\u2019m happy.\u201d <\/p>\n
Schwesinger accomplished his goal, to say the least.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s leading the team with 146 tackles, and leads all NFL rookies in tackles and tackles for loss (11). Those 146 tackles are the most by any Browns rookie since the team returned in 1999. He\u2019s also had two interceptions and 2.5 sacks, the first NFL rookie to hit those marks since Detroit\u2019s Aidan Hutchinson did in 2022. <\/p>\n
Schwesinger also fought through some tough injuries this season, including a high ankle sprain that he suffered in Week 8 against the Patriots. He worked tirelessly over the bye, and was back for a Week 10 loss to the Jets, missing no time with an injury that can sometimes sideline players for a month. <\/p>\n
Against the Steelers in Week 17 Schwesinger also fought through the quad muscle injury that ultimately will sideline him for the finale against the Bengals.<\/p>\n
He still finished the game with nine tackles despite barely being able to move by the end of the first half and needing to ride the bike and use a heat compress to try and stay loose when he was off the field. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf it would have been anybody else, I might have been worried,\u201d defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz said. \u201cBut during the game, I\u2019d hit (linebackers coach) Jason Tarver, and I\u2019d be like, \u2018Hey, look, do we need to get him out?\u2019 And he\u2019s like, \u2018Let him go, let him go, let him go.\u2019 And I was talking to him after every series, and he just said, \u2018I can do my job,\u2019 and he could. <\/p>\n
\u201cReally a cement block for our defense and I think defensive rookie of the year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Why was it so important for Schwesinger to fight through that injury despite the Browns only having four victories this season? <\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s just the mentality,\u201d Schwesinger said. \u201cI think you never know when your last play or whatever\u2019s gonna be. And so, I don\u2019t know, my mindset was, as long as I can get out there, do my job, I\u2019m gonna be out there.\u201d <\/p>\n
Even for this meaningless Week 18 game against the Bengals, Schwesinger \u201cput up a fight\u201d to try and play before cooler heads prevailed.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut also there\u2019s some people who\u2019ve been around a long time and know what\u2019s best for you, too,\u201d he said. \u201cSo sometimes you gotta listen to them.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it is what it is. I\u2019m excited to still be there and watch and support the guys, so I\u2019m so excited to be able to go out there and watch, and I think we\u2019ll be able to go out there and finish the season out strong.\u201d<\/p>\n
Whether the league ultimately hands him the trophy or not, Schwesinger already delivered the kind of rookie season Defensive Rookie of the Year campaigns are built on.<\/p>\n
Football Insider newsletter free trial: Take a minute and sign up for a free trial<\/a> of our Football Insider newsletter, featuring exclusive content from cleveland.com’s Browns reporters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BEREA, Ohio \u2014 Carson Schwesinger can\u2019t even do an interview anymore without one of his teammates stating the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":650451,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2054],"tags":[86,85,54,58555,2337,69791,7,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-650450","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cleveland-browns","8":"tag-browns","9":"tag-cleveland","10":"tag-cleveland-browns","11":"tag-cleveland-browns-2025","12":"tag-clevelandbrowns","13":"tag-detroit-lions-2025","14":"tag-football","15":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115830730828779437","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650450","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=650450"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650450\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/650451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=650450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=650450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=650450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}