As the NFL coaching carousel rolls into its fourth week, the league has already seen five head coaching vacancies filled. But while some teams are moving quickly to lock in their next leader, the Cleveland Browns are taking a very different approach - one that’s raised more than a few eyebrows around the league.
Cleveland was the first team to part ways with its head coach on Black Monday, yet here they are, weeks later, still without a hire - and no clear end in sight. The Browns’ search has been deliberate, data-heavy, and, according to multiple reports, increasingly complicated.
This week, things took another strange turn. Two high-profile candidates - Mike McDaniel and Jesse Minter - both canceled their in-person interviews with the Browns, a move that caught the attention of fans and insiders alike.
McDaniel, who’s been courted by nine teams for various roles, and Minter, who drew interest from seven organizations, clearly had options. But why did both opt out of Cleveland’s process?
According to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, who’s been closely tracking the Browns’ search since Kevin Stefanski was let go on January 5, the answer lies in the team’s unique and rigorous interview process. Pelissero, speaking on The Rich Eisen Show, pulled back the curtain on what’s really going on in Berea - and let’s just say, it’s not your standard NFL interview setup.
The Browns, under the guidance of GM Andrew Berry and a front office steeped in analytics, have built an interview process that’s as comprehensive as it is unconventional. We're talking about personality tests, multi-part essays, and even homework assignments - all designed to give the team’s data department a detailed profile on each candidate. It’s a system built to identify not just football minds, but the right kind of thinkers for Cleveland’s data-driven ecosystem.
“The Browns’ search process is unlike any other in the NFL,” Pelissero said. “They spend an extraordinary amount of time gathering data on their coaching candidates.
You're talking about taking a personality test. You're talking about writing an essay.
You're talking about completing homework assignments - and that’s just to get through the first and second rounds of interviews.”
It’s a system that favors a very specific type of candidate - highly intelligent, analytically inclined coaches who can thrive in a collaborative, metrics-focused environment. While there's no formal requirement, Pelissero noted that many of the candidates who fit that mold tend to come from Ivy League backgrounds or similar academic pedigrees.
But that level of rigor comes with a cost. In a competitive hiring cycle where time is often the most valuable asset, Cleveland’s methodical approach may be working against them. While other teams are finalizing hires and moving into the next phase of the offseason, the Browns are still deep in the evaluation process - and not without hurdles.
The team is currently linked to four candidates: Jim Schwartz, Todd Monken, Grant Udinski, and Nate Scheelhaase. But there’s another layer to this: per league rules, the Browns still need to interview at least one more minority or female candidate to satisfy the Rooney Rule requirements. That means the process is likely to stretch into a fifth week - and potentially beyond.
It’s also worth noting that Paul DePodesta, the longtime chief strategy officer who helped shape the Browns’ analytics-first approach, is no longer in the building. He’s now back in baseball with the Colorado Rockies.
But his influence still looms large over the organization. Berry, who has final say over personnel decisions, continues to operate within the framework DePodesta helped build, and the analytics department remains a central pillar in the team’s decision-making.
That structure - while innovative - may be part of the reason Cleveland’s job is a tough sell. It’s not just about leading a team; it’s about fitting into a very specific organizational philosophy. And for coaches like McDaniel and Minter, who had multiple suitors and limited time, the idea of writing essays and completing personality assessments might not have been the best use of their energy.
Meanwhile, other teams, like the Buffalo Bills, are already in compliance with the Rooney Rule and appear poised to make a hire as early as this weekend. That contrast is hard to ignore.
Cleveland’s approach deserves credit for being thorough and thoughtful. They’re clearly not looking to make a knee-jerk hire.
But in a league that moves fast - especially in January - there’s a risk in being the last team at the table. With top candidates already making decisions and staffs filling up quickly, the Browns may soon find themselves with fewer options and more questions than answers.
There’s still time, and the right hire could make the wait worthwhile. But with each passing day, the pressure builds.
The Browns set out to find a coach who fits their vision. Now the challenge is finding one who’s still available - and willing to take the test.