Todd Monken Becomes Cleveland Browns Head Coach as Jim Schwartz’s Future Looms and Shedeur Sanders Takes Center Stage

The Cleveland Browns named Todd Monken as their new head coach on Wednesday, January 28, 2026, closing a fast-moving search that began after Kevin Stefanski was fired on January 5 following a 5–12 season. The hire immediately reshapes the organization’s priorities: an offense-first head coach arrives with a reputation for demanding structure, while one of the league’s most respected defensive coordinators, Jim Schwartz, is now weighing whether to stay after being passed over for the top job.

The Browns’ next phase now pivots on two urgent questions that will define the 2026 season: can Monken stabilize a franchise that cycles through identities, and can the team align its quarterback plan around Shedeur Sanders without splintering the staff and locker room in the process?

What happened: Browns pick Monken, not Schwartz

Monken, 59, lands his first NFL head coaching job after coordinating high-profile offenses at both the pro and college levels. Cleveland’s leadership framed the decision around accountability, player development, and offensive innovation, signaling that the club wants a clearer weekly identity on offense after a season that produced too many empty possessions and too little consistency.

The immediate tension is Schwartz. He helped pilot a defense that stayed near the top tier in multiple categories even while the team struggled overall, and he entered the process as a serious head coaching contender. Within hours of the Monken announcement, reports of Schwartz’s frustration intensified, including indications he may try to exit despite being under contract.

That is the first test of Monken’s authority: not play design, but power dynamics.

Todd Monken coaching history: why Cleveland bet on his blueprint

Monken’s résumé is built on adaptability and quarterback development across very different environments. He has been an NFL offensive coordinator, a college offensive coordinator, and a college head coach at Southern Miss. He also previously worked in Cleveland as offensive coordinator in 2019, giving him a baseline familiarity with the organization’s expectations and constraints.

His most recent pro work came as offensive coordinator for the Baltimore Ravens, where his offense was tied closely to a quarterback-centric run game and a more aggressive passing structure. Before that, his college stretch included coordinating a national-title-level attack at Georgia, where the offense leaned into efficient sequencing, play-action stress, and heavy personnel flexibility.

Cleveland’s bet is that Monken can do what the franchise has struggled to do for decades: pick a coherent offensive philosophy, teach it quickly, and sustain it through inevitable injuries, slumps, and roster turnover.

The Jim Schwartz dilemma: keep the defense elite or start over

Schwartz’s presence is not a small staffing detail. It is a strategic fork in the road.

If Schwartz stays, Cleveland could maintain defensive continuity while Monken rebuilds the offense, reducing the total number of moving parts in one offseason. That is the cleanest football argument: preserve the unit that already wins games and spend political capital elsewhere.

If Schwartz leaves, the Browns risk a familiar spiral: a new head coach arrives, installs a new offensive approach, and the defense simultaneously undergoes philosophical and personnel shifts. That kind of double reset is how “one bad season” becomes two, and it is how coaching tenures shorten before they ever stabilize.

Behind the scenes, the incentives are sharp. Schwartz has head-coach credentials and leverage created by performance. Monken needs authority and alignment, not passive resistance. Ownership and the front office want proof that this hire ends chaos rather than rebrands it.

Shedeur Sanders and the quarterback plan: development vs. desperation

Shedeur Sanders is now unavoidable in the Browns’ conversation. He started the final seven games of his rookie season and finished with a stat line that showed both promise and volatility: flashes of production, paired with turnover trouble. He also received a late-season boost in visibility with a Pro Bowl selection as a replacement, a development that amplified public expectations even as his overall body of work remains incomplete.

For Monken, Sanders represents both opportunity and trap.

Opportunity, because a young quarterback gives a new head coach a timeline and a narrative: build, teach, grow.

Trap, because young quarterbacks force hard choices fast: do you live with mistakes for the sake of development, or do you chase stability with a veteran and risk stunting the rebuild?

Monken’s background suggests he will emphasize structure, answers versus pressure, and a run game that makes the passing game simpler. But the Browns must still decide what they want Sanders to be in 2026: the unquestioned starter, a competitor in an open battle, or a developing piece protected by a more conservative plan.

Behind the headline: what’s really driving this hire

Context matters. Cleveland is trying to escape a loop where each regime change triggers another schematic reset, which then forces more personnel churn, which then produces more instability. Hiring Monken is a signal that the organization wants to flip the order: decide the offensive identity first, then build the roster and coaching staff around it.

Stakeholders and leverage points are clear:

• Monken needs staff control, especially at coordinator and quarterback coach.

• Schwartz needs respect and a real say in defensive direction if he stays.

• The front office needs the roster plan to match the scheme, not fight it.

• Sanders needs clarity, not mixed messaging, to develop.

Second-order effects are already visible: Monken’s move also impacts the divisional ecosystem, removing a key offensive architect from a rival and changing offseason staffing battles across multiple teams.

What we still don’t know

Several missing pieces will decide whether this starts clean or messy:

• Whether Schwartz remains and, if so, on what terms

• Who Monken hires to run the offense day to day, and how play-calling authority is structured

• Whether Cleveland adds serious quarterback competition and what that does to Sanders’s development track

• How aggressively the roster shifts to fit Monken’s preferred tempo, personnel usage, and protection plan

What happens next: five realistic scenarios with triggers

1. Schwartz stays, Cleveland keeps defensive continuity
   Trigger: a clear role definition and shared staffing decisions that protect Schwartz’s autonomy.

2. Schwartz forces an exit and Cleveland resets the defense
   Trigger: an irreparable relationship rupture after being passed over.

3. Sanders becomes the clear starter with a simplified, QB-friendly structure
   Trigger: Monken builds a run-game-first identity that reduces high-risk throws.

4. Cleveland adds a veteran quarterback to raise the floor
   Trigger: internal belief that 2026 cannot be a full developmental year.

5. A broader coaching tree shuffle affects the Giants’ offensive coordinator search
   Trigger: teams adjust their plans after Monken comes off the board and staff candidates reshuffle.

For the Browns, the Monken era begins with less mystery than most coaching hires: the offense will be the headline. The real question is whether Cleveland can keep the defense intact long enough for that offensive plan to take root, and whether Shedeur Sanders is positioned to grow into the kind of quarterback that makes a coach’s system matter.