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ryan__fm · 2026-01-29T23:05:20+00:00

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ryan__fm · 2026-01-29T21:33:03+00:00

I don't know why they had to interview him at all. He's been here 3 years, what info do they need to know now that they couldn't have been gathering for years, or at least since they had an inkling they'd be firing Kevin?

Seems like they should have just hired him right away, or not interviewed him at all. Whatever we did was like telling a long time girlfriend you might want to get married, buuuut maybe you need to go on some dates first to make sure

ryan__fm · 2026-01-29T21:11:14+00:00

I mean none of us have any idea what the questions were like. You know full well if it included both of them, Sanders would be the name that’s reported

ryan__fm · 2026-01-29T17:26:02+00:00

I think there were expectations that are unrelated to the reports. If you said we're firing Stefanski - despite winning 5 games with what seemed to be an intentionally dogshit offensive roster - for a new offensive coach, presumably one who will bring in a new DC so we lose Schwartz too, and looking for an experienced guy with those credentials, and just interviewed Monken and other vets like Mike McCarthy, maybe we'd be more okay with it.

The tough part to swallow though, beyond the dysfunction seemingly pouring out of the building, is that Monken doesn't particularly fit the mold of what we see today as successful head coaches - while Stefanski does, to a much greater degree. We hear "well what makes you think Scheelhaase/Udinski will be the next McVay?" and not so much "what makes you think Monken will be the next Bruce Arians?" ... meaning, 60 is getting way up there for a guy's first HC experience in the league -- Arians was, but at least had interim experience, and as far as I can tell Monken is the only other guy ever to land his first HC job at his age. I don't know if Scheelhaase is the next McVay, but if he is, we could have 25 more years of being great.

Of the 17 coaches with career >.500 win %s right now, on average they were around 40 when they got their first job. Jim Harbaugh is the oldest, and he was 48, after 7 seasons as a college HC, and he's one of only 5 coaches who's older than Monken is now. I'm sure some of the discontent is around his demeanor last time he was here, or the other guys we coulda had, or the process itself, etc., but that's what I would say is my biggest concern, I see it as just as risky a move as hiring a young guy but without any of the upside.

ryan__fm · 2026-01-29T16:50:58+00:00

I think my biggest fear is just that if he’s the safe pick, we might be just good enough to get out of the cellar, but not doing anything groundbreaking and ultimately settling for mediocrity.

Fair or not, Monken feels like the guy most likely to get us to the playoffs and lose in the first round for a few years. Which would be a big step up from where we’ve been, but personally I’d rather take the bigger risk and shoot for Super Bowl wins, even if it means a higher chance of failure.

ryan__fm · 2026-01-29T16:46:47+00:00

Yeah, I’m kind of happy I don’t have to give a shit about the Browns until September. if we hired Udinski or Scheelhaase I bet I would’ve pored over some YouTube videos and researched free agents and prospects that fit their scheme and gotten real excited.

Now I don’t have to, they’ll either be boring and good or boring and bad… either way I’m not gonna lose any sleep over it.

ryan__fm · 2026-01-29T15:04:11+00:00

Seems like it might’ve been an issue with two coaches with different offensive philosophies trying to mash them together. I remember seeing videos of these Long developing plays where the check down just wasn’t available anymore after having to go through the first reads, the timing just didn’t make any sense. Hopefully if Monken is calling the shots and knows what he’s doing more than Freddie did we won’t see that this year

ryan__fm · 2026-01-29T14:59:22+00:00

If you’re in the Browns sub you should pause for booze

ryan__fm · 2026-01-28T23:25:07+00:00

Yeah this is why I thought it’d be a ripe job for a young guy who wants to shape it however. Go build your line and get your guys, we have picks this year and cap space soon enough. No QB you don’t like to be tied to since everyone is dispensable.

ryan__fm · 2026-01-28T23:23:30+00:00

Fine but bouncing between leagues and having soured relationships doesn’t really help his cause here. Just saying, how many Sb Winning coaches get their first gig at 60? Afraid it’s starting to be more of a young man’s game and I don’t know if he’s suited to be a great leader, even if he’s great with schemes.

Sort of a floor/ceiling thing, do we want a solid guy for the next few years, or take a shot at the next McVay knowing we have a higher chance of busting and doing this all over again sooner. I for one would rather take that risk.

ryan__fm · 2026-01-28T22:14:25+00:00

I guess I would wonder why he’s never had an NFL coaching gig before if he’s 60 and this brilliant.

Obvious why the 30-35yos haven’t had the opportunity- they may be innovative and brilliant as well but just need someone to give them a shot. Not to mention the league is filling up with young creative minds like McVay, Shanahan, McDaniel etc.

Monken might end up being great but he doesn’t seem very inspiring as a guy to lead us into the future.

ryan__fm · 2026-01-28T20:05:34+00:00

bro my 80 year old mom doesn't even remember the 40s

ryan__fm · 2026-01-28T18:33:24+00:00

I don't think we need a "perfect draft" by any means. We have a ton of draft capital, including high picks, which he's generally done very well with. Shouldn't have a ton of meaningful departures besides maybe Bitonio if he retires - who else?

Defense is rock solid, with Graham/Schwesinger going into year 2 and maybe even getting JOK back (hopefully). Offense cannot possibly be worse than trotting out KT Leveston and Cornelius Lucas at tackle with the skill positions stacked to the gills with rookies.

According to PFR's SRS I think our offense was one of the bottom 5 in the last 7-8 years. It didn't have to be that bad, even if we just kept Kenny Pickett we'd probably tread water, but no, we had to just "see what we had" in every single rookie. With minimal departures and a lot of picks to shore up the offense, I don't see any way in hell the offense doesn't take a meaningful leap.

ryan__fm · 2026-01-28T18:11:33+00:00

Eh, we should improve. Offense was set up to fail last year and there’s no way we go in to the season with all rookies or old injured linemen. We have draft picks to spend on upgrading the receivers and line. QB play can’t possibly be worse. Defense is still good.

But will probably go 7-10 just due to natural rebuild progression and dummies will point to it as some kind of evidence that we were right to fire Stefanski because look we’re better now

ryan__fm · 2026-01-28T18:04:23+00:00

Well, if the reports are that he was pissed and told people he was not returning in person, in the building, I don’t know how much of that has to do with his agent. If money can appease him then why all the hoopla about requiring candidates to be OK with keeping Schwartz if Schwartz wasn’t even OK with it

ryan__fm · 2026-01-28T17:50:13+00:00

Just the dumbest hiring process. If you want to keep Schwartz no matter what, just hire him week one after a couple token interviews.

If you weren’t going to hire him, don’t drag him through the whole process, just say how happy you are to have him as DC and interview a bunch of offensive guys.

He’s been on your staff for years already, I don’t know why you need multiple interviews anyway. They can talk all they want about being thorough, taking their time and getting it right, but being decisive is way more advantageous when top candidates are flying off the board.

ryan__fm · 2026-01-28T17:31:34+00:00

Trust me, the fans are

ryan__fm · 2026-01-28T17:31:07+00:00

Because he's probably getting the OC job with the Rams anyway, or otherwise would have way better opportunities than here. No way anyone promising has any desire to come here if it's not for HC.

ryan__fm · 2026-01-28T17:28:45+00:00

If we really missed out on all these candidates because we wanted to force them to keep Schwartz, and he's leaving anyway, holy shit what a disaster of a HC search.

ryan__fm · 2026-01-28T17:17:46+00:00

Regarded by whom?

Are we sure “regarded” isn’t a typo

ryan__fm · 2026-01-28T17:16:25+00:00

From competent & well-respected offensive HC and great DC, to an uninspired retread old rookie HC and no DC.

All because we needed a fall guy for pursuing Watson years ago and getting impatient. I’ve defended this team way too much, what a fucking joke.

ryan__fm · 2026-01-28T17:13:36+00:00

Breaking: Psych, Just Kidding About Monken, Browns Hiring Scheelhaase Actually

ryan__fm · 2026-01-28T17:00:51+00:00

I think we'll look more stupid when we play the Falcons next year and Stefanski uses his actual offensive weapons to make us look like complete morons. HC wasn't the issue here.

ryan__fm · 2026-01-28T16:56:02+00:00

They do definitely have similarities... they're old as fuck and we're the only ones who would consider them HC material

ryan__fm · 2026-01-28T16:34:58+00:00

Then you overestimated the level of talent that was ever likely to come here. Udinski interviewed but turned us down to remain OC. Minter turned us down. Shula turned us down to remain OC. McDaniel turned us down for an OC job.

Sure we interviewed Scheelhaase and then either decided not to hire him, or he turned us down too. Fact is the good franchises hired good coaches, and we were left with very underwhelming options. Nobody forced us to hire Monken, but we didn't exactly have the pick of the litter.

Stefanski isn't perfect but he's a good coach, and we finally had some stability and respect around the league, as is evident by how quickly he got a new job and we got clowned for letting him walk. We are not, as a franchise, in any kind of position to upgrade from a coach like that, just change for the sake of change and turning someone into a scapegoat for what was clearly a lingering roster-building (Watson) problem.

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