With former Denver Broncos head coach Vance Joseph heading to the Arizona Cardinals to be the defensive coordinator, Cleveland has set their sights on another man to run the defense.

Cleveland is working towards hiring former Arizona Cardinals head coach Steve Wilks to be the defensive coordinator.

Wilks was fired after one season in Arizona after going 3-13 despite support from his players both in Arizona and those he coached around the league for him to be retained.

Wilks changed the defensive scheme in Arizona from a 3-4 base to a 4-3 base which he ran in Carolina as their defensive coordinator in 2017 and it caused some of the struggles the franchise faced during the 2018 season.

Arizona had the fourth ranked defense against the pass but was 32nd against the run under Wilks’ in 2018.

Overall they ranked in points allowed at 26.6 points per game.

When Wilks ran the Panthers defense in 2017 and it ranked 11th in points allowed at 20.4 points per game.

They were the 18th best defense at stopping the pass and 3rd at stopping the run and featured Luke Kuechly who was a Pro Bowler and first-team All-Pro that season as well as Thomas Davis who made the Pro Bowl as well.

With the 4-3 scheme he primarly runs, he’s a solid fit with the Browns personnel that is currently on the roster.

He runs an aggressive style defense and a lot of zone coverage based on his track record to keep offenses guessing.

The Browns were also linked to former Colts head coach Chuck Pagano and former Giants defensive coordinator Steve Spagnulo as potential options.