Whether Jim Schwartz stays or goes and in what role is a call complicating Jimmy Haslam's coaching search. (TheLandOnDemand)
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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.
The Browns coaching search is over, and the final choice may finally be made on Wednesday.
The team’s search committee – owner Jimmy Haslam, GM Andrew Berry and Berry consultant Tom Telesco – spent Tuesday in Cleveland trying to form a consensus on a final result that would keep Jim Schwartz with the Browns.
Whether that is as head coach or defensive coordinator was the issue, and it was no guarantee that either would occur.
On Monday, Haslam et al. met for over seven hours in Los Angeles with Sean McVay protégé Nate Scheelhaase, Berry’s preferred candidate. But Haslam refrained from offering a contract when Scheelhaase honored a commitment to conduct a Zoom interview with the Buffalo Bills.
This unappreciated development caused Haslam to turn the discussion to the merits of Schwartz or Todd Monken, the New York Giants offensive coordinator-in-waiting, as the choice for head coach.
When the Browns’ contingent returned from L.A., the Bills came to an agreement with Joe Brady, their offensive coordinator, to succeed fired Sean McDermott as coach.
After that, it is believed that the Browns redoubled communication with Scheelhaase via a Zoom conference. But, again, no contract was offered.
The sticking point appears to be Schwartz’s future role with the Browns, and whether the prolonged search and effective snub as the No. 1 candidate has soured him on the concept of staying on as defensive coordinator to Scheelhaase or Monken.
Simply naming Schwartz the head coach goes against Haslam’s and Berry’s belief that the organization’s top priority is improving the offense rather than keeping the defense status quo. Ideally, they would do both, but it now appears easier said than done.
Haslam may have to weigh naming Scheelhaase, an up-and-coming offensive savant with no head coach experience, and finding a new defensive coordinator, v. promoting locker room-favorite Schwartz to head coach and finding an offensive coordinator outside the existing search.
While Monken remains an alternative to Scheelhaase as an offensive-minded candidate, the club seems very much aware that he would be a difficult sell to a fan base conditioned over the 23-day search to the promise of a younger and fresher offensive direction.
On Tuesday, former coach Kevin Stefanski was introduced to Atlanta media as the new Falcons coach and Mike McCarthy was introduced as the new Pittsburgh Steelers coach.
After Buffalo filled its vacancy, only the Browns, Las Vegas Raiders and Arizona Cardinals were still without a head coach.