"How do you pronounce Carson Schwesinger?"might have been the most searched question on Google in Cleveland during night two of the NFL Draft in April. 

The Browns decision to select the UCLA walk-on linebacker was a bit of a perplexing one to many at the time. Cleveland had a tone of offensive needs, but went defense with each of their first two picks. Plenty of people were also just flat out unfamiliar with Schwesinger's game. 

They certainly aren't now. 

Seven months later, Schwesinger is quickly becoming a household name in Cleveland, and a potential NFL star as well. 

On the heels of being named the AFC defensive rookie of the week, though, Schwesinger received what is arguably the greatest recognition a young player can, a mere 10 games into his career. 

"I gave him a big compliment on Monday because I was with Ray Lewis his first three years in the NFL," Browns defensive coordiantor Jim Schwartz began. "I don’t think – and Ray’s obviously a Hall of Famer, maybe the best ever to play in the linebacker position, but the command that Carson has now in a lot of respects took Ray’s third year in the league before [he developed].

"It’s a very difficult position and he’s been right in the middle of it, and it’s been fun to watch because not only does he do all that stuff well, but he has great command. He’s a great leader for us. He’s our play caller, very rarely makes a mistake" 

Drawing comparisons to Lewis is nothing to sneeze at. Particularly from a coach in Schwartz, who has worked with plenty of otherworldly players in his day. It's the ultimate compliment. 

Schwesinger warrants that type of comparison, though. He's racked up 85 tackles so far in 2025, which ranks top 15 in the league, to go along with 1.5 sacks and two interceptions. He snared his second interception season just last weekend in a loss to the Ravens. It wasn't even the most impressive play he made in the game.

Early in the first quarter, Lamar Jackson kept the ball on an option play to his right and found himself one-on-one with Schwesinger as he approached the line of scrimmage. Like he's done so many times throughout his career, Jackson used his freakish athleticism to try and beat Schwesinger to the outside, only he couldn't.

The rookie linebacker tracked his every move, got a hand on him, then eventually tracked him down to make an impressive open field tackle on one of the most elusive quarterbacks in NFL history. Schwartz plans on revisiting that clip for years to come. 

"That’s going to be on my teach tape for how to play the zone read the way that we play it," said Schwartz. "There’s a lot of different ways people play, like some people surf the defense, end, some people do a chase scrape, and some people have dedicated guys. But the way we played it there, that’s exactly how you want to play it."

At the rate Schwesinger is playing, he's destined to win much more than a defensive rookie of the week award. Numerous sports books list Cleveland's up-and-coming star as the favorite to win the Defensive Rookie of the Year award come February. 

So how does Schwesinger feel about all this praise? Well, he doesn't think much about it. He's all business – something else Browns fans love about him.

"I think it's cool to see and things like that, but it's very easy to get caught up in things like that when really the focus is just how do we go out there and win this week?," he said. "What do I have to do to be prepared for this week? So I understand the point and obviously I can't just go and avoid it, but really it's just trying to maintain focus on this week and what we're doing.

That won't stop people from continuing to advocate for him, though. His own teammates in particular. Like safety Grant Delpit for instance, who called Schwesinger an All-Pro after Sunday's loss to Baltimore. Something he elaborated on further this week.

"I think despite the rookie thing, it's just the statistics of it," said Delpit. "I don't know who votes for that type of stuff or whatever, but just saying that he's playing at a really high level. That's all I'm really trying to say. And it's no secret, everybody knows it." 

If you didn't know Schwesinger before, you certainly do now. And there's certainly no one Google searching how to pronounce his name.