11:30pm: Monken’s contract with the Browns will probably be five years in length, per ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler. That has grow to be the usual for brand spanking new head coaching hires, with all of this yr’s hires receiving an analogous deal.
9:49am: 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. The Browns have officially announced the move.
After the Browns canned Stefanski on Jan. 5, they sent their first known external interview request to Monken the following day. He booked a second interview with the Browns on Jan. 20 and have become a finalist for the position, joining defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz and Rams pass game coordinator Nate Scheelhaase.
The Browns told Scheelhaase they were moving into one other direction this morning, per Jeremy Fowler of ESPN. Scheelhaase will remain with the Rams in 2026, in keeping with Fowler.
Schwartz had reportedly picked up momentum toward a promotion, however the Browns will as a substitute go outside the organization and select a fourth straight offensive-minded head coach. While Schwartz stays under contract with the Browns, there’s “no guarantee” he’ll stay in place, in keeping with Fowler. Unsurprisingly, Schwartz is prone 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 few disastrous campaigns and Freddie Kitchens during a one-and-done 2019. Monken was Cleveland’s offensive coordinator under Kitchens. The unit finished twenty second in scoring and total offense that yr, making for an interesting reunion given the dysfunction that engulfed the Browns during Kitchens’ 2019 season in charge. Although Monken was not believed to be comfortable during that Kitchens-led season, he’s coming back to Cleveland to run the show.
After his first stint with the Browns, Monken returned to the faculty 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 by 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 on 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 eleventh in scoring and sixteenth in yards.
The Ravens fired head coach John Harbaugh after stumbling to an 8-9 record, and so they didn’t interview Monken before hiring Jesse Minter. With Harbaugh now the Giants‘ head coach, it seemed likely Monken would follow him to Latest York as his offensive coordinator. Indeed, the team was “very confident” it might 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 can have to look elsewhere.
While Monken’s repute as a coordinator precedes him, he’s largely an unknown as a head coach. His only experience in that position got here 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 an enormous leap to 9-5 in his last yr on the job. Monken then departed to grow to be the Buccaneers’ offensive coordinator, and Southern Miss hasn’t reached nine wins in any season since then.
In his first head coaching role within the NFL, Monken will face one other daunting task in attempting to reverse the Browns’ fortunes. Stefanski earned Coach of the 12 months honors twice and led the Browns to 2 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 thirtieth in yards and thirty first 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 – not less than not at first. Shedeur Sanders would be the frontrunner to start out 2026 after ending this season because 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.
Together with Sanders and Gabriel, Deshaun Watson could also think about to a point 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 4 years. Despite the fact that the previous star signal-caller is as a consequence of count $80.72MM against the Browns’ cap next season, they’re likely stuck with him. It will cost the Browns an eye-popping $131.16MM in dead money to release Watson in 2026.
General manager Andrew Berry, who acquired Watson, is confident Monken is the proper fit for Cleveland.
“Todd has a varied and diverse background that we found as a very appealing match for our team at this stage in its life cycle,” Berry said on Wednesday. “He has a direct, demanding, and detail-oriented leadership style that can create an awesome incubator for a young team. His successful offensive track record at each the professional and college level with a wide range of offensive systems and QB skill sets will allow maximum flexibility as we make several, long-term investments on that side of the ball.”
Berry’s statement suggests the Browns will exercise patience with Monken, which will probably be essential within the short term. With the Browns holding two first-round picks this yr, including the sixth overall selection, Berry will probably be in position to provide Monken more young talent to work with in 2026.