Report: AFC Team Requests Interview With Ex-Patriots Assistant For Defensive Coordinator Job
The Cleveland Browns have reportedly requested an interview with Houston Texans defensive passing game coordinator Cory Undlin for their defensive coordinator vacancy.
The 54-year-old was a defensive assistant of Bill Belichick’s on the New England Patriots’ Super Bowl-winning 2004 team following six seasons as a college football coach.
“#Browns have requested an interview with Texans pass game coordinator Cory Undlin for DC, source says. They interviewed #Falcons defensive pass game coordinator Mike Rutenberg for the job on Wednesday,” Cleveland.com Browns beatwriter Mary Kay Cabot posted on X.
If hired, Undlin would replace departed defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz.
The former spent just one year with the Patriots before joining the Browns in 2005 as their defensive quality control coach (and later special teams assistant and defensive backs coach).
Undlin then served as the Jacksonville Jaguars’ defensive assistant in 2009 and their defensive backs coach in 2010 and 2011, working alongside Cleveland’s new head coach, Todd Monken. He was the Denver Broncos’ defensive quality control coach in 2012 and their defensive backs coach in 2013 and 2014.
Undlin joined the NFC for the first time in 2015 when he held the role of defensive backs coach with the Philadelphia Eagles, a job he worked for five years. Undlin worked under Schwartz from 2016 to 2019 and earned his second championship ring during the 2017 campaign when the Eagles defeated New England in Super Bowl LII.
The Minnesota native’s only defensive coordinator gig came in the 2020 season with the Detroit Lions. The Lions ended that year with the NFL’s worst-ranked defense, allowing 32.4 points per game.
Undlin was the San Francisco 49ers’ defensive passing game specialist in 2021 and 2022 before joining the Texans ahead of the 2023 campaign.