The search for the next head coach of the Cleveland Browns continues as the team schedules a second interview with current defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz. In Schwartz’s three-year tenure as DC, Cleveland’s defense was ranked top-5 in the league in terms of total yards given up twice (2023,2025). Schwartz remains one of the few interviewees with head coaching experience. He was the head coach of the Detroit Lions from 2009-2013. In 2016, Schwartz was hired by then-head coach Doug Pederson to be the defensive coordinator for the Philadelphia Eagles.
Schwartz would go on to spend five seasons in Philadelphia, where he would eventually lead the Eagles’ defense to a victory in Super Bowl LII. In 2023, he won the AP NFL assistant coach of the year award in his first season as Browns defensive coordinator.
There have been two times in Cleveland Browns history where a coach’s replacement was hired internally. On October 22, 1984, Marty Schottenheimer replaced Sam Rutigliano as Browns head coach. In four years, Schottenheimer had a record of 71-44. On January 9, 2019, the Browns hired Freddie Kitchens as their head coach, replacing interim head coach and defensive coordinator Gregg Williams. Kitchens struggled mightily as HC, going 6-10 and was fired at the end of the season.
Given the fact that Schottenheimer has the fourth-highest win percentage in Browns history and Kitchens has the tenth-lowest, only time would tell which end of the spectrum Schwartz would land on, if he were to be hired as Cleveland HC.
Another potential candidate who’s scheduled for a second interview is former Baltimore Ravens’ OC Todd Monken. Monken, a one-time OC for Cleveland back in 2019, called plays for a Ravens offense that consistently ranked toward the top of the league in terms of rushing offense.
Other candidates who were interviewed were current Browns OC Tommy Ress, Jaguars offensive coordinator Grant Udinski, former Dolphins HC Mike McDaniel, Chargers DC Jesse Minter and Rams pass game coordinator Nate Scheelhaase.
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