In a matter of hours, Carson Schwesinger is expected to be called up to the stage at NFL Honors to accept the Defensive Rookie of the Year award. He’s not exactly thrilled.
For the 22-year-old Browns middle linebacker who enjoys watching musicals and theater in his free time, the idea of going up on stage in front of people is particularly unnerving—unlike calling out the plays for the NFL’s No. 4 defense in front of millions of viewers tuning in through their televisions.
“I’m O.K. staying as far away from the stage as possible,” Schwesinger tells Sports Illustrated.
He laughs and adds, “My mom’s like, ‘Do you want to go to the awards?’ And I’m like, ‘Not really because then I’m going to have to go say something.’ I’d rather them just not give me it.”
Two years ago, there was little inkling that Schwesinger would be the favorite to win the Defensive Rookie of the Year award, let alone forge a successful NFL career. A no-star recruit and walk-on at UCLA, Schwesinger had yet to start a game in his first three years in Westwood.
Carson Schwesinger’s early years
Growing up in Southern California, Schwesinger began playing football at an early age and spent his first two years of high school at a small K-12 school. When that program opted to move to an eight-man football team, Schwesinger transferred to spend his junior and senior years at Oaks Christian High School, a prestigious football school that has produced other NFL talent, including Michael Pittman Jr., Zach Charbonnet and Kayvon Thibodeaux.
“Most of the guys who go there are big time recruits, not people from a division 13 school in California, so nobody really knew who I was,” Schwesinger said. “[I] just put my head down, worked and tried to get on the field. The walk-on journey started there. You can't be a walk-on in high school, but it kind of felt like it.”
Schwesinger quickly made an impression on Oaks Christian coach Charlie Collins, who says he probably did more film study with Schwesinger than any other player he’s coached. Schwesinger’s willingness to both learn the craft and help his teammates in practice made him a “model team guy” and a “no-brainer” captain early on, Collins said.
“He’s one of the most selfless people I’ve ever coached,” Collins said, “and to a fault.”
Despite his move to a more prominent high school, Schwesinger’s chances of being recruited took a massive hit due to COVID-19 pandemic, which caused camp cancellations and delayed his senior season well past the end of the recruiting cycle. He received just one partial offer from Bucknell, an FCS program in Pennsylvania, which he didn’t seriously consider because it would have cost more to attend than in-state tuition at schools in California.
While schools continued to overlook Schwesinger, Collins encouraged then-Bruins coach Chip Kelly to bring the linebacker in. Kelly was initially trying to recruit highly touted Oaks Christian linebacker Ethan Calvert when Collins told him that Schwesinger is “a poor man’s Ethan Calvert.”
“What I meant by that is Ethan Calvert had all the hype, five-star linebacker, and Carson had none of the hype,” Collins explained. “I said, ‘Carson doesn't have the hype, but he is better.’ And Coach looked at me like I was crazy.”
Kelly trusted Collins’s evaluation, and Schwesinger earned a spot as a preferred walk-on at UCLA.
Or, as Schwesinger puts it, “I think initially the coaches at UCLA were like, At the very least, he'll boost the GPA.”
Paving a path to the pros at UCLA
Schwesinger arrived at UCLA questioning whether he was even supposed to be there after seeing no locker or name plate ready for him. He chose bioengineering as his major, not even because he had a huge interest in it, but because UCLA doesn’t a traditional undergraduate business major. He converted from playing safety to linebacker and redshirted his freshman year while he spent the season on the scout team.
Despite this inauspicious start, Schwesinger realized a few practices in that the other players “weren’t as good as I thought.” He called his mom Diana a week into his time with the Bruins and told her, “‘O.K., I've had the first practice. I can go to the NFL here.’”
“Inside I'm thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, that's fantastic,’ Diana told SI. “… I know he can do it, because when he puts his mind to something, he works and works and works and he makes stuff happen.
“Everything he’s set out to do … he’s done it. Through hard work and perseverance and a lot of studying.”
“He knew he could do it right when he got to UCLA,” Schwesinger’s dad, Dennis, told SI. “… He was able to see a path to do it. I don’t think he knew how hard the path would be when he first started.”
Before the start of his sophomore season, Schwesinger was awarded a scholarship. He spent much of the next two seasons on special teams and as a backup on defense, where he stood out by wrecking the offensive game-plans from the scout team. When Kelly suddenly left the Bruins in February 2024 and DeShaun Foster was promoted to head coach, Schwesinger finally had his path. Both Foster and Ikaika Malloe, who was promoted to defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach under Foster, had observed the impact Schwesinger made during practices, putting him in line for more playing time.
In the Bruins’ season opener of Schwesinger’s redshirt junior year, he recorded seven tackles and forced the game-sealing fumble to help UCLA earn a 16–13 win over Hawai’i. By Week 3, he earned the first start of his college career, and within weeks of breaking into the starting lineup, had emerged as one of the top defensive players in the nation, amassing Big Ten Player of the Week honors in Week 11. He was named an AP first-team All-American at season’s end.
“I was saying it's about time he's been able to show everyone what he can do, like we've known all this time since he was little. We've known how hard he works and everything he does and everything he puts into it,” Diana said.
Heading into what would have been his senior season, Schwesinger expected to play two more years of college football. But as agents began calling and he skyrocketed up draft boards, it became clear that it was time to head to the pros.
“It was the first time that people were actually looking for him,” Dennis said. “He didn't have to go in there and just be a nobody and then prove [himself]. People had actually wanted him and were seeking him out. … It was the first time that you're actually somebody that they picked. I think that was really changing for him, and validating what he had done.”
Becoming the Browns’ green-dot linebacker
Schwesinger’s performance at Hawai’i caught the attention of a friend of Browns linebackers coach Jason Tarver, who told Tarver he had to check out No. 49, the bruising blonde linebacker chasing down ball-carriers across the field.
Tarver, a UCLA alum, took note of the effort Schwesinger played with and followed his game throughout the rest of the season. When the two met months later at the NFL combine and over FaceTime during the pre-draft process, Tarver’s impression of Schwesinger only grew.
“I pulled a bunch of his plays, some were good, some were bad, and I wanted to see how he would answer me,” Tarver told SI. “His recall was amazing. His recall was that of a long time pro player. He could tell me the play call, what he was doing, why he did what he did, and then if there was something to fix, he's like, ‘Yeah, this is what I fixed. Did you see the next time this happened?’ And I'm like, ‘Yeah, I saw that. That was pretty good.’”
Two months later, Cleveland drafted Schwesinger at the top of the second round.
In the way that the circumstances out of Schwesinger’s control, like the COVID-19 pandemic, hurt Schwesinger’s chance of getting noticed out of high school, others helped him become the Browns’ green-dot linebacker from the get-go as a rookie. With linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah injured and Jordan Hicks opting to retire, Schwesinger had a golden opportunity to become Cleveland’s defensive play-caller. He took advantage.
A few weeks into training camp, Schwesinger was already playing well when he made himself known by intercepting Browns quarterback Joe Flacco in the red zone.
“Carson covered 15 yards, sideways, anticipating the play, jumped up over everybody, caught the ball, took off, and nobody caught him. It's like, ‘Yeah, it's over.’ You could see it. That's what the great ones do,” Tarver said.
It was far from just the flashy moments that stood out. From early on, Tarver recalls Schwesinger coming in “real quiet” and saying “I’m gonna earn it” as he listened to learn and master everything. He took diligent, specific notes, and was the first to get to the huddle so he could deliver the call to his teammates.
On the field, this has translated into Schwesinger keeping Cleveland’s defense on the same page, rarely repeating mistakes and improving his ability to get off blocks using his hands, rather than solely relying on his athleticism. He’s regularly where the ball is, whether that’s bursting through to tackle Lamar Jackson, Derrick Henry or Christian McCaffrey, running over to sack Josh Allen or intercepting Drake Maye.
YESSIR SUNSHINE!!!!#CLEvsNE on FOX and NFL+ pic.twitter.com/ROTbEbCqg2
— Cleveland Browns (@Browns) October 26, 2025
Schwesinger feels the duties of the green-dot linebacker are sometimes “blown out of proportion. … All I have to do is listen to the call and repeat it to the defense.” Tarver, however, says “it’s not that easy to be the guy that has to do all that,” noting Schwesinger still has to make checks on call sometimes, align the front, make adjustments off of motions or bump himself depending on the call.
Defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz said in November that middle linebacker is a hard position, particularly for young players because they must have the know all the run fits, coverage components and blitzes and still bring the physicality.
Schwartz added, "I was with Ray Lewis his first three years in the NFL. I don't think—and Ray's obviously a Hall of Famer, maybe the best ever to play the middle linebacker position—but the command that Carson has now in a lot of respects took Ray's third year in the league.”
Here's the full clip of Browns DC Jim Schwartz comparing Carson Schwesinger to Ray Lewis https://t.co/KMKwSMVr0M pic.twitter.com/xQqjv5Lynp
— 𝚂𝚙𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎𝚛 𝙶𝚎𝚛𝚖𝚊𝚗 (@Spencito_) November 20, 2025
Overcoming injury
Becoming the Browns’ green-dot linebacker is more than earning a starting spot as a rookie. As the on-field defensive play-caller, Schwesinger has the security he’s never had before in his football career and rarely comes off the field—except in the case of injury.
Schwesinger was on the verge of missing significant time when he sustained a high ankle sprain in Week 8 against the Patriots, an injury that normally takes four weeks to come back from.
“He told me right away, ‘I’ve had a form of a high ankle sprain before and I’m going to be back, I’m going to play,’” Tarver recalled. “People are telling me that it’s going to be a normal high ankle sprain, which is about four weeks most of the time. I’m like, ‘I don't know. Carson says he’ll play. I believe him.’ They're just looking at me. I’m like, ‘I do. I believe him.’”
The Browns went on their bye week and Schwesinger stayed in Cleveland and worked with the trainers to ensure he would not miss a game—even skipping his plans to go see Hamilton on Broadway during their off week. Sure enough, he was back on the field when the Browns returned for their next game against the Jets, racking up 10 tackles, a half sack and two hits on the quarterback.
“That high ankle sprain recovery, that's as fast as I've ever seen,” Tarver, in his 23rd year of coaching in the NFL, said.
“I think he's got a little bit of Wolverine blood in him,” Schwartz said in November.
Schwesinger was held out of Cleveland’s final game due to the injury. Over the course of the year, he started 16 games and played 97% of the defensive snaps. He’s among the NFL’s leading tacklers, amassing 156 total tackles, 2.5 sacks, two interceptions and three pass breakups while becoming a central piece of a defense featuring multiple All-Pros and the NFL’s single-season sack record-holder, Myles Garrett.
Looking back on his rookie season, Schwesinger is quick to point to plays his teammates made as his favorites, such as Tyson Campbell and Devin Bush’s pick-sixes and Garrett breaking the sack record. When asked about Schwartz comparing his command to Lewis, Schwesinger acknowledges “it’s great to hear that support” from the coach who’s in his headset, but swiftly credits his teammates for making it easy to get the call out.
From walk-on to the NFL Honors podium
Schwesinger will receive individual recognition if he takes home the Defensive Rookie of the Year award. In his typical fashion, he will likely do so alongside a teammate as Myles Garrett is the obvious favorite to win the Defensive Player of the Year award. If they both win, the Browns will be the fourth team to take home both awards in the same season. Schwesinger has already been named the Pro Football Writers of America’s Defensive Rookie of the Year, but has competition from Seahawks’ nickel Nick Emmanwori for the AP award, which will be announced on Thursday.
For the occasion, Schwesinger will even trade wearing one of his favorite $20 Target crewnecks—he estimates he owns four in each of multiple colors—for a suit.
“[My mom] was talking about having to go to the awards and she's like, ‘You know, you're gonna have to get nice clothes for that.’ … I was like, ‘Oh, we can just go wherever and get a suit.’ She's like, ‘You can't do that. Everybody's gonna know you got it from Kohl’s!’”
Though Schwesinger isn’t one to get caught up in individual awards and accomplishments, he does concede, “I'm proud of the way I went out and played this year and felt like I got better each week. … It's definitely a blessing to be able to go out there, if I'm able to go get that. It's an honor to be able to have that.”
He also notes, “[It’d] probably be cooler for my family. Sometimes my mom cares more about stuff than I do. I'm just trying to go play football.”
Schwesinger’s parents certainly aren’t taking any of these moments for granted. After attending every one of his games at UCLA since long before he was a starter—cheering every time the announcer said he made a tackle—Diana and Dennis are finally seeing the dreams he’s worked for since he was five years old come to fruition.
“Things keep happening one year later that you just wouldn’t have thought were possible the year before,” Dennis said. “He’s been driven. He’s always felt like that’s where he would end up. He just needed to keep working and find an opportunity.”
“[It’s] obviously surreal,” Diana said. “[I] can't believe it's happening because this wasn't even on our radar at the beginning of his last season at UCLA. [I] try not to cry all the time. … As his mama, it’s an incredible thing to witness.”
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as From Walk-On to DROY Favorite: Carson Schwesinger’s Improbable Rise to the NFL.
