CLEVELAND: Browns cornerback Joe Haden didn’t learn the name of his new defensive backs coach until Thursday, more than a week after Tim Hauck was hired to guide the organization’s young secondary.
Hauck has replaced defensive backs coach Jerome Henderson, who left the Browns in January to fill the same role for the Dallas Cowboys. Adjusting to life without Henderson could prove to be a challenge, but Haden is confident the Browns’ pass defense, which ranked second in the NFL during the 2011 regular season, will continue to thrive.
Haden doesn’t need to meet Hauck to believe it. He can already feel it.
“In the secondary, I feel like we want to be one of the focal points of the team,” Haden said Thursday night before the Greater Cleveland Sports Awards at the Cleveland Renaissance Hotel. “We want to be the leaders basically. I think everybody in the secondary is ready to just keep building.”
Of course, Haden includes himself. After ranking sixth in the league with 19 passes defensed but failing to record an interception last year, Haden knows he must improve in his third professional season to be considered an elite cornerback.
Apparently, Haden also must do more to be deemed Cleveland’s Professional Athlete of the Year. He was a finalist for the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission’s version of the award, though Indians shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera claimed the honor.
“I think [Haden] still has a lot of growing to do,” former Browns cornerback Hanford Dixon said. “Right now, he’s a good corner who’s got the potential to be a really great corner, and I’m sure he’s going to be that. There’s just a few little things he’s gotta work on technique-wise, but there’s not a doubt in my mind that he’s gonna be that great corner.”
Haden agrees. Still, he believes he’s on his way to becoming an elite shutdown corner, as evidenced by his ability to often perform well while shadowing the opposing team’s top wide receiver last year.
“Even though my numbers, my interceptions weren’t as good, I feel like I became a whole lot better corner,” said Haden, who has been spending his offseason in Cleveland, Miami and his native state of Maryland. “Just playing the position, understanding stuff, understanding concepts. … We were out there 90 percent of the time in [man-to-man coverage]. That says a lot. I feel like I did really good, but I have a whole lot I can improve on.”
Haden would have enjoyed Henderson’s tutoring for another season. Instead, he’ll need to prove he can flourish with Hauck in charge.
“I just hope the best for [Henderson],” Haden said. “He was a really, really, really good coach. He loved his players, and we loved him. But it’s a business at the end of the day, and it didn’t work out. So whoever the new coach is, hopefully he has the same things that Jerome has.”
Now Haden just needs to remember his new coach’s name.
Hoping to return
Backup defensive lineman Brian Schaefering said he wants to ensure he’ll return to the Browns next season. Schaefering is scheduled to become an exclusive rights free agent on March 13.
“I’d love to be back in Cleveland,” said Schaefering, whose base salary in 2011 was $525,000. “That’s my main goal. That’s my main focus right now. If the cards don’t fall that way, that’s part of the NFL. I think with the amount of reps that I got, I think I showed that I can be productive, and I can play in this defense.
“From the way I left it, I know that they’re interested. But it’s the NFL. Every year, they’re gonna see what young guys come in and what they can get in the draft and who’s a free agent. That’s one of the things they’re evaluating right now.”
Schaefering said he hopes to learn about his future with the team after the NFL Scouting Combine, which runs through Feb. 28. He played in all 16 games during his third season with the Browns, compiling 29 tackles and a half sack.
Nate Ulrich can be reached at nulrich@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Browns blog at http://browns.ohio.com. Follow the Browns on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ABJ_Browns and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/browns.abj.
