"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.""