Three-plus weeks after firing Kevin Stefanski, the Browns have found their next head coach. They’re hiring former Ravens offensive coordinator Todd Monken, Dianna Russini of The Athletic reports.
After the Browns canned Stefanski on Jan. 5, they sent their first known external interview request to Monken the next day. He booked a second interview with the Browns on Jan. 20 and became a finalist for the position, joining defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz and Rams pass game coordinator Nate Scheelhaase.
The Browns told Scheelhaase they were going in another direction this morning, per Jeremy Fowler of ESPN. Scheelhaase will remain with the Rams in 2026, according to Fowler.
Schwartz had reportedly picked up momentum toward a promotion, but the Browns will instead go outside the organization and choose a fourth straight offensive-minded head coach. While Schwartz remains under contract with the Browns, it’s unknown if he’ll agree to work under Monken or elect to go elsewhere. Unsurprisingly, Schwartz is likely to draw widespread interest from across the NFL, Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports relays.
With the 60-year-old Monken on his way in, the Browns haven’t hired a defense-first candidate since they handed the reins to Mike Pettine in 2014. Between Pettine’s two-year run and Stefanski’s six-season tenure, the Browns turned to Hue Jackson for a couple of disastrous campaigns and Freddie Kitchens during a one-and-done 2019. Monken was Cleveland’s offensive coordinator under Kitchens. The unit finished 22nd in scoring and total offense that year.
After his first stint with the Browns, Monken returned to the college ranks, where he has garnered most of his coaching experience since he began as a graduate assistant at Grand Valley State in 1989. Monken was Georgia’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach from 2020-22, an eminently successful run in which the Bulldogs won two national championships.
Before the Browns brought him back, Monken spent the past three seasons running AFC North rival Baltimore’s offense. The Ravens boasted an elite offense during Monken’s first two years at the controls. Quarterback Lamar Jackson won the MVP award in 2023 and nearly repeated during a first-team All-Pro campaign in 2024. With injuries limiting Jackson to 13 games in 2025, the Ravens finished 11th in scoring and 16th in yards.
The Ravens fired head coach John Harbaugh after stumbling to an 8-9 record, and they didn’t interview Monken before hiring Jesse Minter. With Harbaugh now the Giants’ head coach, it seemed likely Monken would follow him to New York as his offensive coordinator. Indeed, the team was “very confident” it would reel in Monken, per Connor Hughes of SNY. The Giants and Monken had even worked on a contract in recent days, Fowler adds, but Harbaugh will have to look elsewhere.
While Monken’s reputation as a coordinator precedes him, he’s largely an unknown as a head coach. His only experience in that position came with Southern Miss from 2013-15. The Golden Eagles combined for a dismal 4-20 mark in Monken’s first two seasons, but they made a huge leap to 9-5 in his last year on the job. Monken then departed to become the Buccaneers’ offensive coordinator, and Southern Miss hasn’t reached nine wins in any season since then.
In his first head coaching role in the NFL, Monken will face another daunting task in attempting to reverse the Browns’ fortunes. Stefanski earned Coach of the Year honors twice and led the Browns to two playoffs appearances, most recently in 2023, but posted a horrid 8-26 record over the past two seasons. The Browns’ Schwartz-coached defense ranked fourth in yards allowed in 2025, though an offense that finished 30th in yards and 31st in scoring doomed the club to a 5-12 mark.
Monken worked with a superstar quarterback in Baltimore, but he won’t have that luxury in Cleveland – at least not at first. Shedeur Sanders may be the frontrunner to start 2026 after finishing this season as the Browns’ No. 1 option. While Sanders oddly received a Pro Bowl invitation as a sub, the fifth-round rookie didn’t prove himself as a slam-dunk answer during his first seven starts in Cleveland. Meanwhile, third-round rookie Dillon Gabriel fared worse than Sanders before suffering a concussion against the Ravens in Week 11.
Along with Sanders and Gabriel, Deshaun Watson could also factor in to some degree after missing all of this season while recovering from a ruptured Achilles. The Browns’ decision to trade a bounty of picks to the Texans in 2022 and immediately hand Watson $230MM in guarantees was a head-scratcher from the get-go, and it has aged like milk since then.
Watson has made 19 mostly underwhelming starts in a Browns uniform over four years. Even though the former star signal-caller is due to count $80.72MM against the Browns’ cap next season, they’re likely stuck with him. It would cost the Browns an eye-popping $131.16MM in dead money to release Watson in 2026.
More to come…
Bad franchises continue to be bad
If your a Brownie you got to be fired up about this hire!
So with both Harbaugh and Monken poaching aggressively from the Ravens…who is going to be left in Baltimore besides Lamar?
Lamar’s mom
Having a cheerleader captain could make the Ravens contenders again 🙂
Who do you think Minter wanted to keep from that staff. The offensive line coach? The terrible DC. They were the reason Harbaugh got fired. That’s the whole reason you make a change at HC, and this goes for Buffalo too for those who think Brady is just going to continue with status quo. Even when guys have gotten elevated after an amicable split like in Tampa, the next guy is going to go there own way on how they coach the team and in staffing their coaches.
Agree with what you’re saying but the poaching wont be limited to just coaches. The Ravens will probably be undertaking a larger rebuild than they anticipated because Harbaugh & Monken will target some of Baltimore’s depth players as well.
Meh
I felt like the Browns wouldn’t have hired an offensive-minded coach unless he agreed to keep Schwartz as DC. Maybe that’s why some of the people were turned off by the situation and dropped out (aside from the Browns being a dumpster fire with a meddling owner).
But, who really knows with this clown show.
It’s ok. They have a Pro Bowl QB now
LMAO
This is the right hire for them out of all the candidates they had, even though I think monken will probably still be 1 and done since it’s the browns
This guy could help develop the young Cleveland qb’s
I think they should have hired Schwartz or Scheelhaase, but as a Browns fan, I’ll root for Monken to succeed. But no coach will succeed in Cleveland or anywhere else without having a good offensive line, which Andrew Berry incorrectly seems to think is in good shape in Cleveland.
He must have been a good boy and completed all of his homework.
Not a Haslam fan, but imagine someone asking a candidate for a 50 million dollar job to complete a survey or write an essay. The horror. Coming in and saying my dad coached in the league wasn’t cutting it?
The one I didn’t want!
I wonder if he had to write 500 times, “I promise to use Quinshon Judkins in key situations.”
Flippin’ joke!
😂😂😂
Incredible
He took Jackson to new heights. Not a sexy pick, but it’s an upgrade over Stefanski as far as X’s and O’s go. He has been called one of those drill sergeant types personality wise though, so there will be no country club atmosphere under him. We’ll see if the players respond to that in today’s NFL. If they keep Schwartz, they have the X’s and O’s on both sides of the ball at least squared away.
Both these things are true: 1) Todd Monken is a very good football coach who is a reasonable choice to get a shot at being a head coach. 2) This feels like a hire that won’t last very long and is in place while the Browns become more appealing by getting Watson off the roster, rebuilding the offensive line some, and getting to an offseason when they have a better shot at a quarterback.
Wait, another QB?
They set a record for number of QBs in the room last pre-season and hey, you aren’t impressed by their Pro Bowl QB?
Or he could end up being the next Bruce Arians, another pick by a dumpster fire franchise that was not lauded at the time, and then he built a Super Bowl contender that was a game away from the Super Bowl. He’s done everything right at every level of football to get this shot but just didnt’ have the connections to get a job until now. Great college HC, great college OC, great NFL OC, but people fawn over whoever they’re told to fawn over. Davis Webb was a terrible backup QB, yet everyone knows he’s going to be a superstar HC despite never even coordinating a team’s offense or even really having much responsibility for that matter. This actually could work.
Didn’t have the connections? He’s very well connected. He’s been on staffs with guys who are head coaches and coordinators all over the league. He’s been coordinator on some not very good teams, which has hurt his stock, and he’s also known for not exactly having a personality that makes everyone want to follow him. Webb’s stock also has a lot to do with everyone who’s worked with him seeing him as a future head coach going back to his early playing days.
There are a million people on staffs, but there are certain coaches with a certain profile and certain ages who come up for head coaching jobs, and that’s not by accident.
You said he didn’t have connections. That’s just not true.
You want to replace a pro bowl QB? Blasphemy!
I agree with all your points except one. The offensive line needs a MAJOR overhaul, not just “some.” Fixing that offensive line will cure a lot of the problems on the Browns, but not all of course. Fixing the line will help quarterback play and help the defense get rest, and even occasionally play with a lead, something I’ve heard is a good thing to do sometimes. I’m a Browns fan so that last point is more speculation than reality to me.
Hard to see how this is much of an upgrade over Stefanski
You watched both of their offenses over the years? We have very large sample sizes to compare. It’s a huge upgrade X’s and O’s wise.
Browns will get a run-pass option (RPO) quarterback in free agency or the draft. It might be Malik Willis as a free agent or one of the projected late first round picks in the 2026 draft.