Todd Monken’s Browns debut comes with a built-in warning label: the expectations are already louder than the reality.
Jacksonville, the Browns’ Week 1 opponent, looks nothing like the team Cleveland is about to face. The Jaguars are coming off a 13-4 season in 2025 and are chasing a deeper playoff run after last year’s painful loss to the Buffalo Bills. Cleveland, by contrast, has been stuck in the mud, finishing with back-to-back sub-six-win seasons and not reaching 13 regular-season wins since 1948, when it went 14-0 and won the championship in an eight-team league.
That’s the backdrop for Monken’s arrival, and it’s impossible to ignore the contrast. The Browns are hoping their new head coach can bring the same kind of spark Liam Coen brought to Jacksonville after the Jaguars’ 4-13 season in 2024. Cleveland may not be a 13-win team overnight, but the organization is clearly betting that Monken can change the temperature fast.
Monken’s comments about Coen only sharpened that hope. He didn’t just compliment Jacksonville - he laid out the blueprint he believes works.
“First of all, their staff did a great job, and their personnel putting their team together and maximizing all their players’ measurable skill sets. They got the quarterback to play at a really high level.
Liam [Coen]’s always been able to do that. And what they did is they pieced together.
They took care of the O-line initially, they signed Patrick Mekari from us at the Ravens, that kind of solidified things."
That’s not just praise. It’s a roadmap, and it points straight at what Monken and general manager Andrew Berry tried to attack this offseason: the offensive line. It also suggests Monken believes he can lift the play of Deshaun Watson or Shedeur Sanders if it comes to that.
Still, this is where patience has to enter the conversation. Monken is wired to believe he can make it work with whoever is in front of him.
That’s who he is. He’s not the type to walk into a job and say the quarterback situation is hopeless.
He took the head coaching job at Southern Miss, after all. Confidence in the scheme, confidence in the play design, confidence in the ability to create points - that’s baked into his profile.
But there’s a hard edge to this situation too. Trevor Lawrence responded to Coen’s setup.
Watson might be a different story entirely. That doesn’t have to become a verdict on Monken.
He inherited the mess; he didn’t build it. And at some point, coaching can only do so much.
The league has seen elite offensive minds run into the same wall when the quarterback play wasn’t there. Kyle Shanahan, Sean McVay and Sean Payton have all had rough seasons in those circumstances.
It doesn’t erase what they are. It just reminds everyone that even the best play callers need the right engine under the hood.
If Cleveland is getting blown out, the patience runs out fast. But if the Browns are at least hanging around, there’s room to let this breathe.
Monken’s task now is a messy one: he went from working with two-time MVP Lamar Jackson to a quarterback who has torn his Achilles twice in the past two years in Watson. That kind of transition doesn’t clean itself up in a month.
Even so, the offense isn’t starting from zero. Quinshon Judkins is in the backfield.
KC Concepcion and Denzel Boston are at receiver. Harold Fannin Jr. is at tight end.
The Browns have also rebuilt the offensive line, though first-round rookie Spencer Fano may need time before everything clicks.
What’s missing, though, is the easy answer at quarterback. There is no savior arriving this year.
So the real test for Monken isn’t whether the Browns suddenly become dangerous. It’s whether the offense looks organized, coherent and well-coached.
Are players getting open even when the ball doesn’t find them? Is he making the right calls in short-yardage spots and other pressure moments?
Those are the signs that matter now.
If Monken clears that bar, he’ll have done something meaningful in year one. And he’ll have positioned himself to guide Cleveland’s presumed next quarterback in 2027.
In Other News...
Browns Open With A Jaguars Twist Fans Will Be Watching Closely
The Browns will open the 2026 season against a Jaguars team that already has Cleveland's attention for reasons well beyond Week 1. Cleveland holds Jacksonville's first-round pick from the Travis Hunter trade, so every move the Jaguars make this summer carries a little extra weight for Browns fans, from the roster additions to the departures and the shape of a draft class that is expected to produce at least one immediate starter. It is the kind of early-season matchup that ties together two teams' futures in a way most openers do not.
Todd Monken's hiring as Browns head coach also adds another layer to the start of the season, especially after Cleveland interviewed Grant Udinski before making its choice. Jacksonville, meanwhile, has brought in names such as defensive tackle Ruke Orhorhoro and quarterback Quinn Ewers as it reshapes the roster for 2026. For Browns fans, the Week 1 trip is about more than just the scoreboard, because the Jaguars' progress will be part of the long conversation Cleveland is going to be having all season. [Read more 🡒]
Browns Fans Already Sound Fed Up With Deshaun Watson
Todd Monkens first season has already put him in the middle of one of the Browns most delicate storylines, with Deshaun Watson taking the Week 1 starting job over Shedeur Sanders. The choice was always going to draw scrutiny, but it has felt especially loud in Cleveland after Watson was booed during a preseason appearance, a clear sign that plenty of fans are still unconvinced by the direction of the offense.
Monken addressed the subject in a radio interview, calling Watsons remarks about the fan reaction a minor issue and saying the two had already talked it through. For a coach trying to settle a quarterback situation and establish credibility in his first year on the job, even small flare-ups like this can matter, especially when the crowd has already made its feelings known. [Read more 🡒]
Browns Settle Key Week 1 Battles But One Decision Stands Out
The Browns first unofficial depth chart for Week 1 of the 2026 season cleared up a few of the biggest camp questions, and it did so in fairly straightforward fashion. Deshaun Watson is listed as the starting quarterback, with Shedeur Sanders slotted in as the primary backup and rookie Taylen Green third on the chart. Up front, Cleveland kept the offensive line where it had been projected, with Teven Jenkins at right guard and Austin Barber backing up the right tackle spot.
One of the more notable details came on special teams, where second-year receiver Isaiah Bond is the lone punt returner. First-round rookie KC Concepcion, meanwhile, does not appear on the special teams depth chart, a small but meaningful clue about how the Browns are dividing early-season responsibilities as the roster takes shape. [Read more 🡒]