Former Player Had Eye-Opening Moment About Todd Monken

Former Baltimore Ravens offensive coordinator Todd Monken may not have been the most exciting head coaching hire the Cleveland Browns could have made, but he has decades of experience and proven acumen as one of the better offensive minds in football. After winning a pair of National Championships at Georgia and leading Lamar Jackson to another MVP award and the best statistical season of his career, he’ll finally get his first crack at a head coaching opportunity at 59 years old.

While the initial news of the Monken hire wasn’t too exciting to Browns fans, the sentiment has improved in recent days as so many former players and colleagues have spoken up in defense of him. A recent anecdote came out from one former player who revealed exactly when he knew Monken would be a good coach.

Former Baltimore Ravens wide receiver Torrey Smith recently stopped by the Ryan Ripken show to talk about Monken. He said after watching Monken lead a meeting, he was sold.

“I watched coach Monken lead a meeting and I watched how he communicated and I literally walked up to him after and I’m like dude you could be a head coach. Everything about him said head coach.”

"I watched coach Monken lead a meeting and I watched how he communicated and I literally walked up to him after and I'm like dude you could be a head coach. Everything about him screamed head coach"@TorreySmithWR explained the moment he realized that Todd Monken should be a… pic.twitter.com/PA9KfU7Gfg

— Ryan Ripken (@ryanripkenshow) February 3, 2026

Smith never played for a Monken-coached team, so it’s likely that he is referring to a time when he stopped by the Ravens facility during Monken’s tenure. For Monken to have that kind of impact on a player he didn’t even coach is impressive.

Fans haven’t heard anything yet that suggests Monken will have any issues in terms of leadership and commanding respect from the locker room. We all know who the leaders on defense are, but with so much turnover on offense, there is plenty of opportunity for Monken to put his fingerprints all over this offense and reshape it in his image.

New leaders are going to have to emerge, and if everybody buys into Monken’s system and his way of doing things, the Browns could turn things around rather quickly.