Browns Todd Monken adds Giants assistant coach to interview list for new DC

Much like the Cleveland Browns did with their head coach position and much like new HC Todd Monken noted in his introductory press conference, the search for Jim Schwartz’s replacement as defensive coordinator looks to be an extensive one. So far, three of the five candidates that we suggested for the DC job have spoken to Monken about the role.

While Monken stated that he planned to keep the defensive system the same, which would normally limit the number of candidates, the talent on the Browns roster on that side of the ball is intriguing to many. Charlie Bullen of the New York Giants is now among those candidates:

The 41-year-old Bullen was the Giants interim defensive coordinator at the end of last season after over a decade coaching in the NFL. Bullen has spent most of his time as a linebackers coach in roles with the Miami Dolphins, Arizona Cardinals, and in New York. The Iowa grad also spent time as a coach at his alma mater and at Illinois on the college level.

Ed Valentine, who covers the Giants for us at Big Blue View, gave us this recap on Bullen:

Brian Burns just had a career-best year, and gave a lot of the credit to Bullen. Bullen took over as interim defensive coordinator when interim head coach Mike Kafka fired Shane Bowen. Go look up the statistics from the Giants’ last five games, especially the last four. There was a STARK difference in performance once Bullen was placed in charge. Bullen learned under Vance Joseph with the Arizona Cardinals, and also worked with Matt Burke, who is now DC with the Houston Texans.

The Joseph influence shows. He’s aggressive, and pretty creative. Bullen is one of only three assistant coaches from the Brian Daboll staff that John Harbaugh has kept. I don’t know if it’s now, but Bullen has a future as a defensive coordinator.

For the season, the Giants allowed 25.8 points per game. In the final four games with Bullen in charge, the defense game up 18.0 points per game. For the season, the Giants allowed 359.5 yards per game. In the last three games, two of which the Giants won, they allowed an average of 252.3 yards. For the season, the Giants allowed 145.3 rushing yards per game. Under Bullen, that number was 116.8 per game. For the season, they allowed 5.3 yards per rushing attempt, last in the NFL. In the final three games under Bullen, they allowed 4.0 yards per attempt, tied for 10th.

Valentine notes the connection to Burke, who coached under Schwartz previously.

With the NFL combine right around the corner and NFL free agency following that, Monken needs to get this important hire completed as quickly as possible, but he seems set on taking his time to get the right hire, not the fastest hire.