As Cleveland’s offseason gets sorted into the good, the bad and the still-to-be-determined, a few decisions stand out as the ones that can make even an optimistic Browns fan stop and squint.
I’ve already gone through the five moves I liked from this stretch. Those took some faith, too. But this time around, the focus shifts to the choices that raise eyebrows - the ones that don’t feel nearly as clean, even if the Browns end up proving every concern wrong.
The first one is the decision to hire Todd Monken.
There’s no certainty Monken will be a good head coach, but there is one detail that jumps out: no other NFL team has hired him for that job, and he has rarely even reached the final stage elsewhere. That alone is enough to make you pause. Cleveland has a long history of doing things in unusual ways, and that track record has not exactly been kind.
To be fair, the alternatives weren’t exactly slam dunks. An offensive-minded coach was a plus, but a younger option who could grow with the group would have been more appealing. If the goal is a Super Bowl, the appeal of upside and risk is hard to ignore.
The handling of Jim Schwartz belongs on the concern list, too.
Once Monken was hired and Schwartz was out, it became pretty clear the Browns wanted an offensive-minded head coach. If that was the plan all along, then Cleveland should not have kept Schwartz in the mix as a finalist or left him hanging without being more direct.
Maybe it all works out anyway. New defensive coordinator Mike Rutenberg could bring a more varied, flexible system. Even then, it’s tough to know exactly what that means with Myles Garrett gone via trade.
The offensive line overhaul also comes with plenty of questions outside of Spencer Fano, who was on the list of moves I loved.
The rest of the approach feels like a collection of mid-level fixes, and that’s where the concern starts. Quality offensive linemen are hard to find in the NFL.
The fact that the Houston Texans were willing to trade Tytus Howard, and the Los Angeles Chargers and Green Bay Packers were willing to let Zion Johnson and Elgton Jenkins leave in free agency, says something. Maybe a new environment and a different system help all three.
But there was a reason they were available, and now Cleveland is leaning on them to solve a major problem.
Then there’s the Myles Garrett trade and the role Jared Verse plays in it.
Verse is good. Verse is outspoken.
Verse is young and already has some major accolades. On the field, the question is whether he can be the 1A pass rusher in a 4-3 system.
That answer is still coming.
The bigger concern is the price Andrew Berry needed in order to move Garrett. From a pure value standpoint, Cleveland might have landed more if it had been willing to take a draft-pick-only package.
Would the Philadelphia Eagles have given up a first in 2027, two firsts in 2028, and more for Garrett? Would another team have made a similar offer if a Verse-level player wasn’t part of the return?
That doesn’t automatically make the deal a bad one. It does put a lot of pressure on Verse to become something he hasn’t yet shown, and it may have limited the overall haul for Garrett.
Finally, there’s the decision not to push harder for Tyler Linderbaum.
A three-year, $81 million deal is a massive number for a center. The Las Vegas Raiders still thought it was worth it, especially with a young quarterback they would be taking first overall later in the offseason.
For Cleveland, the fit seemed obvious. Linderbaum would have strengthened the offensive line, given Monken a player he knows well, and helped Shedeur Sanders and Deshaun Watson with the best possible setup. He also would have offered real stability if the Browns end up drafting a quarterback high in the 2027 NFL draft.
The reporting said Cleveland was interested, but not nearly as aggressive as the Raiders. That stands out when the Browns have over $16 million in cap space right now, with the chance to add significantly more by restructuring Denzel Ward’s deal.
They also gave the 31-year-old Jenkins a two-year, $24 million contract. In that context, spending that money on the 26-year-old Linderbaum would have made a lot of sense for where this roster is headed.
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