Todd Monken is NOT a bad outcome, it's a good one

Though the Browns may have lurched uncontrollably into choosing Todd Monken as their next Head Coach, or at a minimum, they bungled the PR element of the search, the outcome of choosing Monken is not bad, it is good.

- Monken is an experienced NFL coach who specializes in offense.

- While Jim Schwartz has done a good job, replacing him as defensive coordinator will be easier than having a Schwartz led team solving the Browns profound issues on offense.

- Nathan Scheelhaase's inexperience could have easily snowballed on him especially in the Browns org which can be chaotic.

There are a lot more reasons I am happy about Todd Monken being named Browns head coach, but relative to the other candidates those are the big ones.   Monken also has many merits in the way he handles his job and how he will lead the Browns and we can dive into this in the coming months.

LEAKED - A RARE GLIMPSE AT A BROWNS HEAD COACH ESSAY

⚠️ Warning: This article is strictly satire. Any resemblance to actual NFL hiring practices no matter how absurd is purely coincidental.

Earlier today, one of the Cleveland Browns head coaching candidates’ letters to Andrew Berry somehow leaked to the Brown Blog, offering a rare, unfiltered glimpse into just how bold one applicant may be in explaining why he is the man to fix the Cleveland Browns.

Dear Andrew Berry,

Following our recent interview and in compliance with what I now understand is the NFL’s only graduate-level admissions requirement for a head coaching job, I am pleased to submit the requested essay explaining why I wish to become the next head coach of the Cleveland Browns.

I am uniquely qualified for this role for one simple reason: the Browns are a mess of such epic proportions that it will take an extraordinary human being to fix them. Not a good coach. Not a clever coach. An extraordinary one. The kind of man who can walk calmly through organizational chaos while holding a laminated play sheet in one hand.

I am not applying despite the dysfunction. I am applying because of it. Lesser men look at the Browns and see risk. I see opportunity. I see a franchise that has tried almost everything except the radical idea of letting the football coach coach football while everyone else politely backs away.

My strongest qualification is my personality. I possess a rare combination of confidence, stubbornness, and emotional callus that allows me to absorb criticism, chaos, and unsolicited advice without blinking. This will be essential in my primary early responsibility: ensuring that you, Jimmy Haslam, and all other well-intentioned adults in the building stay the fuck out of the way while I attempt the delicate, complicated task of winning football games.

This will not be easy. It will require firm boundaries, direct eye contact, and occasionally closing the office door and pretending I’m “watching tape” when I’m actually taking deep breaths. But I am prepared for this burden. 

I understand the Browns are a “aligned environment.” I am happy to pretend I am aligned right up until kickoff. After that, feigned collaboration will be limited to nodding politely while I do the job you hired me to do. 

I am not intimidated by history.  Losing has had a long relationship with this organization, and I believe it’s time for an amicable separation. I am the man to help you move on.

Thank you again for this opportunity, and for reminding the league, via a leak on the The Rich Eisen Show, that the Browns do things their own way. I look forward to our next conversation, preferably one that does not require a written component.

Respectfully,
A Man Confident Enough to Try

Brown BLog Predicts: Conference Championships

The NFL Playoffs have been amazing as usual this year and we now are one step away from the Super Bowl.   Here we go

New England at Denver

While the loss of Bo Nix to injury would seem to make this pick easy, I think it is an extraordinarily tough game to predict.   Why?   Sean Payton has a great defense, home field advantage and he knows how to engineer a traditional NFL win by working the clock, and playing complementary football.   I also am concerned about Drake Maye's turnovers.  Are they related to an injury?  

My sense is that Denver finds a way to eek this one out, running the ball far more than passing and Drake Maye makes a mistake or two that tip a close, low scoring game.

Brown BLog Predicts:    Broncos    17    Patriots    13

LA Rams at Seattle

Bottom line here is that I think that Seattle's head coach Mike Macdonald is every bit as clever schematically as the legendary Sean McVay.  Add in the home field advantage and that tips it for me.

Brown BLog Predicts:    Seattle    31    Rams 24

The Brown BLog are 6-4 to date with our playoff predictions

What does it tell us that Kevin Stefanski was in high demand?

The Browns have been so secretive for so long that it's hard to understand what might be going on behind closed doors in Berea.   

The fact that Kevin Stefanski was highly sought after by other NFL teams is revealing.  Why?

Because it tells us clearly that other NFL teams think highly of Stefanski and for that to be the case, NFL execs "in the know" must have reliable information to lead them to conclude that Kevin Stefanski had little to do with the fiasco's in Browns land these last few years. 

It goes without saying therefore that it is likely that Jimmy Haslam and Andrew Berry bear full responsibility for the Deshaun Watson signing.   Impulsive and destructive, the Watson contract not only dug a massive salary cap hole for the Browns, but it also served to anger most NFL owners.   If you ask me, one of many shit burgers that resulted was the 2025 NFL schedule that had the Browns facing a murderers row of tough NFL teams in their first 6 games last season.

How Jimmy Haslam sees fit to continue to be the top executive running football operations for the Browns is a mystery I will never understand.   Haslam sees himself as a Jerry Jones like leader, however Jerry Jones was a starting offensive lineman for a National Championship Division I football team.  Jimmy Haslam played High School ball....

Brown BLog Predicts: NFL Playoffs Week 2

Bills at Broncos

I am riding Josh Allen as far as he will go this year, which I believe will be to the Super Bowl

Brown BLog Predicts:    Bills 27    Broncos     21

49ers at Seahawks

Seattle should win today, home field advantage and Mike Macdonald is too smart to let Kyle Shanahan outsmart him

Brown BLog Predicts:    Seahawks    30    49ers    20

Texans at Patriots

I don't believe in either of these teams, learned a lesson though last week that they are both better than I understood.   I hope Nick Chubb and the Texans win, but I think Drake Maye and the Pats will.

Brown BLog Predicts:    Pats    24    Texans    20

Rams at Bears

Caleb Williams is on the verge of greatness, but Matt Stafford is already there.   

Brown BLog Predicts:    Rams    37    Bears    24

The Brown BLog was 3-3 predicting Round 1 playoff games last week

Brown BLog Predicts: NFL Playoffs - Round 1 Wild Card Round

 

An exciting round of NFL Playoff Games are here and the Brown BLog is here to predict them all.

Rams at Panthers

The Rams have to be a favorite to eventually get to the Super Bowl, this game won't be close

Brown BLog Predicts:    Rams 31       Panthers 13

Packers at Bears

Tough game to predict.  I think Caleb Williams is on the verge of greatness.  He is the closest thing to John Elway that the NFL has seen since Elway retired.   Jordan Love is already great so this one is by far the hardest game to predict this weekend.  Can the Packers force Williams into a few mistakes.  Can the Bears do the same to Love?   What tips it for me is the Packers have suffered more injuries and the Bears are at home but it could go either way.

Brown BLog Predicts:    Bears 27    Packers 24

Bills at Jaguars

One of the takeaways of the 2025 season is that strength of schedule is important.  I have a hard time accepting the idea that the Jags are 13-4 strictly because they are such a good team.  They had a weak schedule and the Bills had an extremely tough schedule.  The Bills are flat out a better team and even on the road, they won't have trouble with the Jaguars

Brown BLog Predicts:    Bills  30    Jaguars 20

Niners at Eagles

The defending Super Bowl Champion Eagles have been the focus of critics most of the 2025 season.  I say "the critics are idiots".   Eagles win a tough one

Brown BLog Predicts:    Eagles 24    49ers    17

Chargers at Patriots

The Patriots have a great QB and have had a great season, however they also have benefitted from a weak schedule and defeating teams using second string QBs all season long.  In an upset special, the Chargers win this one on the road

Brown BLog Predicts:    Chargers 34    Patriots 23

Texans at Steelers

The Steelers are everyone's favorite team to underestimate and the Texans are everyone's favorite team to overestimate.   Do so at your own risk, Mike Tomlin wins this one

Brown BLog Predicts:    Steelers   24    Texans    14 

Brown BLog Predicts: Final Game 17 vs Bengals

 

It has been yet another season of wild disappointment for our Cleveland Browns and for game 17 we are on the road vs our in state rival the Cincinnati Bengals.

The Bengals are actually a great team when Joe Burrow starts, with a 5-2 record in those games he has started.   Meanwhile our Browns are going to be missing two of their best athletes:  Harold Fannin and Carson Schwesinger.  I love Shedeur so I'll be hoping he comes up big but realistically a win for the Browns on the road vs Joe Burrow is unlikely.

The Brown BLog Predicts

Bengals        27

Browns        21

The Brown BLog is 9-7 year to date predicting Browns games. 

Kevin Stefanski - It is a Privledge, in other words .... Adios Cleveland

Tony Grossi hits the nail on the head as usual in his analysis of Kevin Stefanski's "It is a Privledge" comment this week.

I think Grossi nails the context too.   The Browns and Stefanski will message his departure as a mutually friendly parting of ways.

I wrote a few days ago that I hope the Browns keep Stefanski another year, but what I don't know is what exactly has been the narrative behind closed doors these last 12 months in Berea.   In particular the narrative around Dillon Gabriel.

If the Browns and Stefanski part ways, it's clear to me that behind closed doors, Stefanski was and remains adamant that Dillon Gabriel is the QB that he believes should be at the controls for the Cleveland Browns.   If that's the case, I think Stefanski has one big problem:  Jimmy Haslam and 99% of the traditional experts in the NFL world disagree with him.   I disagree too for that matter.

Why would Stefanski bet his head coaching career on Dillon Gabriel?   Perhaps because he is convinced that his Ivy League Offensive Scheme can only be successful with a QB who fully grasps the nuances of his scheme.   

The problem with Gabriel however is obvious to everyone except perhaps Kevin Stefanski.  Dillon Gabriel does not have an NFL arm.   Not having an NFL arm would be a problem even if Gabriel were 6' 5".....   We all saw the proof in the 6 games he started.   His longest pass was a 26 yard completion and of the few throws that he completed longer than 20 yards most of the yards gained were after the catch which was less than 10 yards downfield.

TD to interception ratio of 7:2 you say?   Well, the analytics point out that Dillon Gabriel's turnover worthy plays were at 4.6% it just turns out defenders had as hard a time catching his balls as offensive players did.

Nothing against Gabriel here.  He obviously is a very smart, polite and still relatively young man, who interviews extremely well, but Stefanski and the Browns did Gabriel a massive disservice drafting him in the 3rd round and shouldering him with any expectations that he could succeed in the NFL.   Jimmy Haslam has connections to talent evaluators around the league and before day 3 of the 2025 NFL Draft they all must have told him that taking Gabriel in the 3rd round was nutty.   Haslam did the right think drafting Shedeur and we have all seen the proof in Sander's numerous big plays during his starts.

Kevin Stefanski bet the farm on a QB who in Rex Ryan's words "has none of the attributes of an NFL QB" and in doing so, I don't care what Jimmy Sexton says, if that's the case, Stefanski is never going to get another gig as a head coach in the NFL.

Time will tell and in this case, if Stefanski is gone after this season ends, I think that behind closed doors, the above narrative would in fact be exactly why Haslam decided "enough is enough"