Browns Rumors: 49ers' Joe Woods to Be Hired as Defensive Coordinator

The Cleveland Browns have never been to the Super Bowl, but they are reportedly adding a coach who was just there to their defensive staff.

According to Mary Kay Cabot of cleveland.com, the Browns are hiring former San Francisco 49ers defensive backs coach and passing game coordinator Joe Woods as their new defensive coordinator.

Woods will be joining a familiar face, as he was an assistant on the Minnesota Vikings staff alongside new Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski from 2006 through 2013. 

"With Kevin, I've had a relationship with him, coaching on the same staff," Woods said Wednesday. "So if that were to happen, I feel it would be very easy, a seamless transition. There's a trust factor there. He knows my work ethic. He saw me in the building for eight years, so he knows what I'm all about, so I don't think there would be a problem there."

Charean Williams of ProFootballTalk noted San Francisco, which lost Sunday's Super Bowl 31-20 to the Kansas City Chiefs, preferred to keep Woods on staff, but the promotion in title brings him to Cleveland.

San Francisco's defense spearheaded the path to the Super Bowl for much of the season, finishing second in the league in passing yards allowed per game under Cleveland's new defensive coordinator and second in total yards allowed per game.

Playing for the Lombardi Trophy stands in stark contrast to the Browns, who missed the playoffs in each of the last 17 seasons. They will need to make strides on defense if they are going to change that in 2020 considering they finished a mere 20th in the league in points allowed per game last season.

They took a step toward rectifying that with the addition of Woods.