What the Browns revealed about their expectations for the 2026 season at the Todd Monken introduction

Editor's note: Tony Grossi is a Cleveland Browns and NFL analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland. He has covered the Browns since 1984.

Leftover takeaways from Todd Monken’s introduction as new Browns head coach …

1. We received a good feel for what the Browns’ own expectations are for 2026 throughout the Todd Monken introduction. GM Andrew Berry said, “We wanted someone who could lead, develop and grow a young team. Because quite frankly, we’re probably going to be, if not the youngest, one of the youngest teams in football in 2026. The second thing that we wanted, certainly in the short term, was a coach, didn’t matter the background, that had a very strong and adaptable offensive plan, given the amount of turnover we’re going to have on that side of the ball, both in terms of personnel, scheme, you name it.”

2. Since owner Jimmy Haslam makes himself available for interviews only two or three times a year, invariably he is asked every time what are his expectations for the coming season. At the beginning of the 2025 training camp, he stated “three wins won’t cut it,” and it turned out that even five didn’t cut it for Kevin Stefanski to keep his job. On Tuesday, Haslam said, “Do I expect we’ll win more than [five] games? I do. And I think we’ll have a better football team. … We’re not going to be ugly to watch, OK? We want it to be a fun team to watch, a team that plays hard, plays smart, and most of all, wins.”

3. Leave it to Monken, though, to hit the ball out of the park on this subject. He said, “Dee and Jimmy [Haslam], they cut a check with my name on it. You know what they expect? A fricking kick-ass football team. That’s what they expect. You know what they want? They want to become a winning franchise that our fan base in our region is proud of. That’s all they’ve been about, is how you build a winning franchise that consistently competes for championships. You know what? My job is to prove it every single day, and I appreciate that.”

4. Another answer that Monken knocked over the fence came when asked to describe his offensive system. He said, “The way I’ll try to phrase it is to score any way possible. I don’t care what it takes to score, it’s about scoring points. I would hate to put some sort of … any type of connotation as to what system that we are, other than playing to our players’ strengths. I think one of the things that our staff, including myself, have been able to do is take advantage of what a player can do and not what they can’t do.” Berry pointed out that early on in his college coaching career, Monken was one of the first “air raid” coordinators – shotgun, spread formation, up tempo. He turned Brandon Weeden into 72.4 percent passer and first-round draft choice his senior season at Oklahoma State. Monken then  adapted when he joined the Tampa Bay Buccaneers the following year. And the best example of Monken’s adaptability came in Baltimore. He inherited former coordinator Greg Roman’s power run game and developed Lamar Jackson into a legit Pro Bowl passer. And the very next year, the Ravens acquired Derrick Henry and they flourished in a downhill, running scheme. So, don’t pigeon-hole the Browns’ offense in 2026 until Monken and Berry are through revamping the personnel.

5. Monken endured one of the most utterly bizarre seasons in Browns history in his first stint in 2019 as Freddie Kitchens’ offensive coordinator. That season began with a pre-meditated scuffle in training camp practices with the Indianapolis Colts, which may or may not have indirectly led to a complete loss of composure in a season-opening trouncing to Mike Vrabel’s Tennessee Titans (18 penalties, one ejection, three Baker Mayfield interceptions). There was palpable lack of respect between Kitchens and Monken, to the extent that Monken reportedly complained to opposing coaches that Kitchens wouldn’t adhere to the prepared game plan on Sundays; the game in Denver, at which Mayfield actually shaved his facial hair before, during halftime, and after the game; and also at which safety Jermaine Whitehead posted threatening and racial messages in the locker on social media to critics of his performance while still in the locker room following the game, after which he was summarily waived; and, of course, the Myles Garrett incident with Mason Rudolph, which led to a six-game, season-ending NFL suspension of Garrett. Monken was admirably diplomatic when he commented on that eventful season. “I learned a lot in that 2019 season,” he said. “I think you learn a lot, in fact, you learn a heck of a lot more when things aren’t going well than when it is going well. And I learned a lot of things that I would have done different and I think collectively would have done different, and I’ve seen it from a different angle, different point of view. But I’m ready to move forward with this team, the 2026 team.”

6. Berry and Haslam made mention of Monken’s varied offensive background as a strong selling point for the job. It is ironic, however, that both of Sunday’s Super Bowl teams are headed by defensive-minded coaches, Vrabel with New England and Mike Macdonald with Seattle. Noting Vrabel and Macdonald, Berry said it “wasn’t necessarily the case” the Browns would go offensive-minded coach. But a central part of every candidate’s interview was hearing “their vision or their plan for the offense.” I would have loved to hear what Jim Schwartz’s offensive vision was. Obviously, it didn’t totally mesh with what Haslam and Berry had in mind.

7. Monken has coached four years now in the AFC North (one year as Browns coordinator, three with Baltimore), so it was interesting to hear his response about making his NFL head coaching debut within a competitive division now without its two trademark head coaches, Mike Tomlin of Pittsburgh and John Harbaugh of Baltimore. The new lineup has Zac Taylor of Cincinnati (seven seasons) inheriting the mantle of “dean” of the division, as Monken takes over the Browns, Mike McCarthy takes over the Steelers, and Jesse Minter takes over the Ravens. Asked about jumping into this new coaching fray, Monken said, “I can’t wait … I can’t wait.”