The Cleveland Browns recently announced that Todd Monken will be their new head coach, a decision that was met with equal parts excitement and frustration. On one hand, Monken has a proven track record of being a solid offensive mind, and on the other, the Browns passed up on two candidates that the fanbase was excited about.
One candidate, of course, was DC Jim Schwartz, who was said to be the favorite to land the job, and the other was OC Nate Scheelhaase, who came highly regarded from the Los Angeles Rams. Scheelhaase is much younger than Monken and Schwartz, and coming from the Sean McVay coaching tree has proven to be a net positive.
With this in mind, analyst Jeremy Fowler highlighted his confusion about the Browns’ hire of Monken and what might have been the driving factor of not going ahead with Scheelhaase.
“The Browns have an incredibly large personnel and scouting systems department. I don’t know if Scheelhaase was willing to maybe give them all the ends that they wanted in that regard. I think there was probably a little pushback,” Fowler said.
"If you would have told me Monday who was the leading candidate, I probably would have said Scheelhaase," – @JFowlerESPN.
Fowler notes that Andrew Berry and Scheelhaase really hit it off during the process. https://t.co/2HQJ3615Od pic.twitter.com/RzryX0xjmA
— ESPN Cleveland (@ESPNCleveland) January 28, 2026
As Fowler noted, Scheelhaase seemed to be the team’s top option until he wasn’t, but there might be something to his point about the personnel and scouting department. If Scheelhaase wanted to do things his own way rather than how the Browns wanted them to run, that could have been the biggest determining factor in rolling with Monken.
Head coaches tend to get some runway, especially if they’re highly regarded and have a lot of experience, but they also have to live within the constraints that teams give them. With the Browns’ recent frustrations and disappointing seasons, there are a lot of eyeballs on everything this team is doing, both on and off the field.
Perhaps the organization wanted to go with someone more seasoned and experienced, like Monken, even though Scheelhaase brought a lot to the table in his own right. Fans might not be happy, but this is the choice the team made, one that they’ll have to live with for the immediate future.
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