Pro Football Rumors
For much of the 2024 NFL season, it seemed like off-ball linebacker was not going to be an offseason need for the Browns. Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, Devin Bush, and Jordan Hicks finished the year graded as the seventh-, ninth-, and 11th-best linebackers, respectively, in the NFL, per Pro Football Focus (subscription required). Yet, somehow, there’s a decent chance that a second-round rookie will be starting at the position in 2025, per ESPN’s Tony Grossi.
First off, we need to address the occurrences that led to the Browns needing to select UCLA’s Carson Schwesinger with the first pick of Day 2 of the draft. Owusu-Koramoah’s best campaign of his young career came to an early end when a neck injury landed him on injured reserve. While he avoided a career-altering injury, he’s expected to miss a portion of this upcoming season and may take a while to get back to full speed and strength.
Bush, after having an uncharacteristically impressive season, was set to return on another one-year deal. Unfortunately, his NFL future remains in question as he spends some time in court dealing with charges of simple assault and harassment. The six-year veteran was arrested days after the draft, but with the team using such a high pick on Schwesinger, there’s certainly a possibility that they were aware of the soon-to-come legal situation.
Even with Bush back in the fold, though, Grossi posits that Hicks and Schwesinger will be the two linebackers on the field most often in 4-2-5 formations. Whenever third linebackers are on the field, Grossi believes it will be a battle between Bush, Mohamoud Diabate, Jerome Baker, and Winston Reid for those snaps.
Coming out of Oaks Christian (CA) without a recruiting ranking, Schwesinger passed up a partial scholarship with Bucknell in order to walk on at UCLA. After redshirting his freshman year, he earned a scholarship and appeared in all 13 games his redshirt freshman year. Most of that season and the subsequent one were spent on special teams, though he did record 2.5 tackles for loss and a sack in limited time on defense. As a redshirt junior, Schwesinger earned a starting role and filled the stat sheet with 136 tackles, 8.5 tackles for loss, four sacks, two interceptions, three passes defensed, and a forced fumble.
What he lacks in natural strength and technique, he makes up for in vision and tenacity. Schwesinger is quick to recognize and diagnose plays as they develop, watching the quarterback’s eyes and finding his lane of attack throughout the play. His effort takes him from sideline to sideline, and he doesn’t miss many tackles.
The same mentality that took him from walk-on to special teamer to starter to second-round pick is expected to take him to NFL starter, as well, at least to open the season. Things could change as camps progress and when Owusu-Koramoah eventually gets healthy, but for now, Schwesinger is likely to be working with the first-team defense after failing to garner a single scholarship offer...
