Todd Monken hasn't coached a single regular-season game as Cleveland Browns head coach, and he's already being asked to manage a three-way quarterback competition, deflect national media criticism, and keep a high-profile rookie's family from creating a locker room distraction. Welcome to Cleveland.
Hired in January 2026 to replace the fired Kevin Stefanski, Monken arrives with serious offensive credentials — three seasons helping Lamar Jackson become one of the most dangerous quarterbacks in football, back-to-back national championships at Georgia, and an earlier stint as Cleveland's own offensive coordinator. On paper, he's exactly what a franchise that averaged just 16.4 points per game last season desperately needs. In practice, the next few months will determine whether the Browns made a transformative hire or just added another name to their growing list of coaching casualties.
The Hire That Was Supposed to Be Different
When the Browns fired Kevin Stefanski after six seasons — a tenure that included a playoff appearance but devolved into one of the worst two-year stretches in recent franchise history — the front office needed to signal a real change in direction. Todd Monken was that signal.
His résumé stands on its own. As offensive coordinator for the Baltimore Ravens from 2021 through 2023, Monken helped architect one of the most efficient offenses in the NFL. Lamar Jackson's second MVP season in 2023 was no accident — it was the product of a scheme that unlocked Jackson's athleticism while building a legitimate passing infrastructure around him. Before Baltimore, Monken helped Georgia win consecutive national championships in 2021 and 2022, establishing himself as one of the most sought-after offensive minds in football.
His Cleveland connection predates this hiring. He served as the Browns' offensive coordinator under Freddie Kitchens in 2019, a turbulent season that ended with Kitchens fired. That experience matters — Monken knows this organization's specific dysfunction from the inside, which cuts both ways. He understands what he's walking into. He also knows exactly how quickly things can unravel.
The Quarterback Chaos Nobody Asked For
The most consequential decision of Monken's tenure hasn't been made yet, and he's in no hurry to make it. The Browns' quarterback room heading into 2026 is genuinely unprecedented: Deshaun Watson, attempting another comeback from injury; Shedeur Sanders, the high-profile rookie whose draft storyline dominated sports media for months; Dillon Gabriel, an undrafted competitor with college pedigree; and rookie Tayen Green rounding out the group.
After just three days of voluntary offseason workouts in early May, Monken told reporters the competition remains completely open. He declined to name a starter, calling it a fluid situation. That's the correct answer at this stage of the offseason — voluntary workouts in May are not the time to hand anyone a job — but it's also an answer that invites speculation to fill the vacuum.
Watson is the most complicated element in this equation. The Browns' commitment to him — both financially and emotionally — has been one of the great organizational miscalculations of the salary cap era. His return from injury offers the possibility of finally seeing a return on that investment. But after the performance the Browns showed over the past two seasons, with a combined 8-26 record, patience has evaporated. There's no goodwill left in the building for another "wait and see" approach to Watson.
Shedeur Sanders is the wildcard that makes this situation truly unusual. His arrival brings national attention, his father's celebrity gravitational pull, and the kind of media scrutiny that most rookie quarterbacks don't experience until they've at least thrown a regular-season pass. Monken inherited a situation where managing the quarterback competition also means managing a media circus.
The Shilo Sanders Incident and What It Reveals
The first real test of Monken's leadership came from an unexpected direction. Shortly after Browns reporter Mary Kay Cabot — a veteran Cleveland media member with decades of credibility — publicly urged the Browns to name Deshaun Watson as the starting quarterback, Shilo Sanders, Shedeur's brother, publicly clashed with her on social media. The confrontation drew national attention and put Monken in the uncomfortable position of having to respond to off-field drama while spring workouts were barely underway.
Monken addressed the situation directly on 92.3 The Fan, urging his players to avoid controversy and ignore outside noise. The message was clear: whatever happens on social media stays out of the building. Shedeur Sanders himself seemed to echo the sentiment, posting a message on X urging people to "focus on what truly matters in life" — the kind of measured response that suggests he, at least, understands the assignment.
Monken's handling of the situation drew praise for its directness, but it also illustrated the unique challenge that comes with the Sanders family package. Shedeur is the player; Shilo is the complication. Managing one while having no formal authority over the other is a delicate balancing act, and this won't be the last time Monken has to thread that needle.
What the incident really reveals is how thin the margin for error is in Cleveland. A social media spat between a player's sibling and a local reporter wouldn't make national news for most NFL teams. In Cleveland, with the Sanders storyline already under a microscope and a fanbase desperate for any sign that this year will be different, everything gets amplified. Monken needs to build a culture that's insulated from that noise, and he needs to do it fast.
Already on the Hot Seat — Before a Single Game
The most striking element of Monken's early tenure is the external pressure that arrived before he could even hold a training camp. Fox Sports reporter Henry McKenna reported in May 2026 that both Monken and general manager Andrew Berry could be fired if the 2026 season goes poorly, framing this as a make-or-break year for the entire front office structure.
That's an unusual thing to say about a first-year head coach who hasn't run a single practice, but it's not entirely unfair given the context. The Browns' recent history demands results. Two seasons, eight wins, 26 losses. An offense that averaged 281.8 total yards per game last year — numbers that would embarrass most college programs. A franchise that has churned through coaches and quarterbacks at a rate that defies organizational logic.
Monken's defenders — and there are legitimate reasons to defend this hire — will point out that he's inheriting a roster situation that would challenge anyone. You can't evaluate a coach's scheme when your quarterback situation is unresolved and your offensive line spent last year as a liability. The Browns made real moves this offseason, including acquiring offensive lineman Elgton Jenkins, and Monken's track record in Baltimore proves he can build something when the pieces are available.
Still, the hot seat narrative isn't going away, and Monken would be naive to dismiss it. NFL head coaches who take over 8-26 teams don't get three years to rebuild. They get one chance to show the trajectory is pointing upward.
The Offensive Line Factor Nobody's Talking About
Lost in the quarterback drama is the Browns' most significant offseason work: overhauling a offensive line that was among the worst in the league last season. The acquisition of Elgton Jenkins is the headline move, but the full picture of Cleveland's line renovation matters because it directly affects what Monken can do schematically.
Monken's offense in Baltimore worked because he had reliable protection and a quarterback who could create when the pocket broke down. Running that same scheme behind last year's Browns offensive line would have been catastrophic. If the new line holds up — a significant if, given Cleveland's recent history with injuries — Monken finally has the infrastructure to implement what made him so successful with Jackson.
The quarterback who wins this competition, whoever it is, will be operating behind a materially different unit than what Watson faced in his injury-shortened appearances. That context matters for evaluating what we see in preseason and early in the regular season.
What Monken's Message Actually Means
Monken's public messaging in the early weeks of his tenure has been notably consistent: control what you can control, ignore the outside noise, compete every day. These aren't novel coaching philosophies, but the emphasis matters in Cleveland's specific environment.
The Browns' problems over the past six seasons haven't been purely talent-related — they've been cultural and structural. A franchise that made a desperate, franchise-altering trade for a quarterback facing serious off-field issues, then watched those issues and the resulting on-field failures compound each other, needs a coach who can establish a coherent identity that doesn't depend on any single player.
Monken's response to the Shilo Sanders situation — quick, direct, and focused on team behavior rather than personal criticism — suggests he understands that. You can't control what Shilo Sanders posts on social media. You can control how your locker room responds to it. That distinction, consistently applied, is how you build a program rather than just a team.
His experience at Georgia is relevant here in a way that doesn't get enough attention. College football's transfer portal era, combined with the NIL landscape, has made managing roster drama and external expectations a core coaching competency. Monken navigated that at one of the most scrutinized programs in the country. Cleveland's fishbowl, while different in nature, isn't unfamiliar territory.
Analysis: The Window Is Narrower Than Anyone Admits
Here's the honest assessment: Todd Monken is a good hire in a bad situation, and whether the hire looks brilliant or disastrous two years from now will depend almost entirely on factors he doesn't fully control.
If Shedeur Sanders develops into the franchise quarterback many scouts believed he could be, Monken gets credit for developing him the way he developed Jackson. If Watson recaptures something from his pre-injury form and the line holds up, Monken's scheme could resurrect a career everyone had written off. Either outcome makes this offseason's uncertainty look like necessary process.
If neither happens — if the quarterback situation remains murky deep into the season, if the offensive line upgrades don't translate, if the Browns' 2026 record looks anything like their 2024-2025 combined marks — Monken will be another name on a list of coaches who couldn't fix what is fundamentally a roster and organizational problem.
The hot seat framing, while premature, isn't invented from nowhere. Andrew Berry's roster decisions over multiple years created this situation. Monken inherits the consequences. The best he can do is establish enough visible progress — in scheme, in culture, in quarterback development — to buy himself a second year where the results match the process.
That's not a pessimistic take on Monken specifically. It's a realistic take on what any first-year coach faces when inheriting a franchise that's gone 8-26 while the national media is scrutinizing your quarterback room before OTAs end. For context on how intense that outside pressure can get, consider that even established coaches at high-profile programs face similar scrutiny — much like Bobby Wagner's high-profile public profile following him well beyond his playing career.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why did the Browns hire Todd Monken?
The Browns hired Monken in January 2026 after firing Kevin Stefanski following a disastrous two-season stretch. Monken's offensive credentials — particularly his work with Lamar Jackson in Baltimore and his national championship runs at Georgia — made him an attractive candidate for a franchise desperate to fix a historically bad offense. His previous Cleveland connection as offensive coordinator under Freddie Kitchens in 2019 also gave him organizational familiarity, though that season ended poorly as well.
Who will start at quarterback for the Browns in 2026?
As of early May 2026, no decision has been made. Monken has explicitly called the competition open after three days of voluntary workouts. The four candidates are Deshaun Watson, Shedeur Sanders, Dillon Gabriel, and rookie Tayen Green. Monken has given no public indication of a timeline for naming a starter, which is appropriate at this stage but will need to resolve before the regular season begins.
What happened between Shilo Sanders and Mary Kay Cabot?
After veteran Browns reporter Mary Kay Cabot publicly urged the team to name Deshaun Watson as the starting quarterback, Shilo Sanders — Shedeur's brother — publicly clashed with her on social media. The confrontation attracted national attention and prompted Monken to address his players on radio, urging them to avoid controversy and ignore outside noise. Shedeur Sanders himself responded on X by urging people to focus on what matters, distancing himself from the drama.
Is Todd Monken really already on the hot seat?
The phrase "hot seat" is somewhat misleading for a first-year coach, but the underlying reality has merit. Fox Sports reporter Henry McKenna reported that both Monken and GM Andrew Berry could face dismissal if 2026 goes poorly, reflecting the organization's diminishing patience after two historically bad seasons. Monken isn't on the hot seat because he's done anything wrong — he's on the hot seat because he inherited a situation where results are non-negotiable and the margin for error is razor-thin.
How bad were the Browns before Monken arrived?
Historically bad. Cleveland went 8-26 over the 2024-2025 seasons and averaged just 16.4 points and 281.8 total yards per game last season. Those are numbers typically associated with rebuilding college programs, not NFL franchises. The offensive line was a particular weak point, which Monken's front office has attempted to address this offseason through acquisitions including Elgton Jenkins.
The Bottom Line
Todd Monken is the right coach for this job — smart, experienced, and proven at the highest levels of football. The problem isn't the coach; it's the circumstances. A fractured quarterback room, a franchise still paying the price for the Watson trade, a media ecosystem primed for drama, and a fanbase that has been disappointed so many times that optimism feels dangerous.
Monken's early messaging — stay focused, ignore noise, compete — is exactly what this organization needs to hear. Whether the roster can execute that philosophy at a level that wins football games is the only question that matters. He'll get his answer starting in September 2026, and not a moment before. The hot seat reports are noise. The quarterback decision is signal. Watch for that, and everything else follows.
