Every successful coach has a type of player he gravitates toward. Some value raw talent above everything else, while others put a premium on the players who show up every day and outwork everyone around them. Todd Monken has made it clear which group he trusts. Now one of his tight ends is earning a comparison that most players would never expect to hear from their head coach.
Monken spoke about Blake Whiteheart while meeting with reporters ahead of Sunday’s home opener against the Carolina Panthers.
“You talk about a guy that just works, that’s all [Blake Whiteheart] does. He reminds me a lot of Brock Bowers, in terms of his work, and those guys are in a rare category. Or, like we used to call Brock Bowers, like, ‘buddy, the yellow lab.’ He could play ball all day, he’d have his tongue out, he’d be red, like you could almost kill him, and he wouldn’t want to come out. And Blake’s just like that, man,” Monken said.
Monken knows that comparison better than anyone. He was the offensive coordinator at Georgia when Bowers arrived, and the pair won back-to-back national titles before Bowers became one of the top tight ends in the NFL with the Las Vegas Raiders. Monken is not claiming Whiteheart has the same talent. He is saying the effort and love for the game put him in the same category, and coming from someone who watched Bowers every day, that is high praise.
Whiteheart’s road to this point has been a grind. The 6-foot-4, 250-pound tight end went undrafted out of Wake Forest in 2023, spent his rookie year with the Arizona Cardinals and landed in Cleveland in 2024.
Last season he was mostly a blocker and special teams contributor, catching 2 passes for 4 yards on 6 targets across 17 games. The Browns re-signed him in the spring, and with David Njoku leaving in free agency, he won the No. 2 tight end job behind Harold Fannin Jr. during the preseason.
His production has already taken a step forward. Whiteheart has caught 2 of his 3 targets for 31 yards and a touchdown through 2 games, including a 14-yard grab in the opener at Jacksonville. That is more than a third of the 86 receiving yards he has totaled across 32 career games.
The biggest play came in Tampa Bay. With the play-action flowing to the right, Whiteheart leaked out to the left without a defender near him and caught a short throw from Deshaun Watson. He lost his footing for a moment in the open field, steadied himself and finished a 17-yard touchdown that held up as the game-winner in the 23-19 victory.
Fannin remains the primary receiving threat at the position, but a dependable second tight end lets Monken use heavier personnel without becoming predictable.
Whiteheart is not going to post Bowers’ numbers, and the Browns do not need him to. For an undrafted player in his 4th season who spent 2025 as a blocker, earning that comparison from his head coach may be the clearest sign yet that his role is only going to grow.
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