CLEVELAND, Ohio — Myles Garrett will have yet another defensive line coach as he heads into his eighth NFL season.
The Browns hired former Texans defensive line coach Jacques Cesaire, a league source told cleveland.com.
He replaces Ben Bloom, who took over that role from Chris Kiffin, current Texans linebackers coach, in Cleveland in 2023. Bloom might return to his previous role as Browns run game coordinator.
Under new attack-minded defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz, the Browns finished sixth in the NFL with 49.0 sacks.
The Ravens were first with 60. The Texans finished tied for 13th, but set a club record with 46 sacks – only three behind the Browns.
Cesaire will be tasked with getting a career season out of Garrett, who’s a leading candidate for AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year.
Garrett finished tied for No. 7 in the NFL with 14.0 sacks, two shy of his club record 16.0 set in each of the previous two seasons.
But he tailed off at the end, notching one sack in his last six games after a five-game drought.
He also had no sacks and three pressures in the 45-14 wild card loss to the Texans.
Cesaire was in the final year of his contract with the Texans but decided to pursue other options.
Cesaire, 43, was signed by the San Diego Chargers as an undrafted free agent out of Southern Connecticut and started 66 games for them at defensive end over the next nine seasons, notching 220 tackles and 12.5 sacks.
