With Devin Bush moving on in free agency, the Cleveland Browns turned to a somewhat familiar face. Quincy Williams had ties to new defensive coordinator Mike Rutenberg from his previous stops in the league, and he had his most productive seasons under Rutenberg's guidance.
Williams' career has been a bit of a roller-coaster, and he hasn't done a lot of winning. He went 6-10 and 1-15 over two seasons with the Jacksonville Jaguars and never won more than seven games over his five years with the New York Jets.
That's why hearing him talk about the Browns, and how they're building winning habits to have one of the best defenses in the league, speaks volumes about Cleveland's current culture shift. Williams has been part of some terrible teams, and he doesn't think that will be the case from what he's seen so far in Berea.
“It’s a fun team to play with. When I got the call I was coming to this team, I looked at the roster, they got some Dawgs. But to actually be here and actually see how everybody else flying around, it wasn’t nothing like you’re coming here to rebuild a team. It was like, you’re coming to be part of a team, being part of the defense. I’m very excited about that,” Williams told Browns Daily.
Winning habits have become the Cleveland Browns' top priority
The Browns know they're not a Super Bowl contender as currently constructed. It would be easier for them to punt on the first season of the Todd Monken era, focus on draft positioning, and then try to make a push during the 2027 offseason.
However, they're doing something much more valuable — even if it costs them prized draft slots. They know how bad habits can snowball, and they're trying to nip them in the bud by competing at the highest level they can right from the jump. Otherwise, Todd Monken wouldn't even have signed up for this job.
The Browns traded Myles Garrett, but that wasn't a reflection of their plans for the season. The Rams presented an offer they couldn't refuse, and it was questionable how committed Garrett was to the team's new direction. Instead of following up that trade by moving Denzel Ward or Grant Delpit, they signed both veteran starters to multi-year extensions.
General manager Andrew Berry admitted the team was still one offseason away from being more aggressive, but the team is already trending in the right direction. Now it's all about battle-testing the young players, letting them learn from their mistakes, and helping them get ready to take another leap.
Even if the record doesn't reflect it at the end of the season, this can still be a meaningful season for the Browns. It's about laying the foundation of a winning organization every day in practice. The wins may come eventually, but it's about time this team started focusing on what really matters.
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