Todd Monken doesn’t need a flashy play to make the Browns’ offense better. He might just need cleaner football.
That was the hidden problem dogging Cleveland in 2024, when the Browns’ offense became the NFL’s most penalized unit. A revolving quarterback situation had plenty to do with it, but the damage showed up in the details that can wreck a drive before it even starts: pre-snap mistakes, missed timing, and the kind of sloppy football Mike Vrabel came in preaching against during his short stay on Kevin Stefanski’s staff.
Sharp Football Analysis put a number on it in its preview for the 2026 Browns: pre-snap flags made up 45.5 percent of Cleveland’s total penalties, well above the league average. And the late-game damage was just as ugly, with the Browns ranking as the third-most penalized offense in the fourth quarter of games in 2025.
“The primary contributors were false start and delay of game infractions. Those two categories accounted for 68% of Cleveland's pre-snap woes last season.” - Sharp Football Analysis
That’s the stuff Monken has been hammering since spring workouts. The message is simple: stop giving away downs, stop handing opponents easy advantages, and stop letting the offense beat itself.
Vrabel, now with the New England Patriots, built his own version of that philosophy around eliminating “bad football.” It worked in Foxboro, where the Patriots won 14 regular-season games and reached last year’s Super Bowl.
He also had Drake Maye at quarterback, which obviously helps. Cleveland’s setup is a lot messier, with Watson and Shedeur Sanders leading a QB room that still feels unsettled.
Still, the Browns are heading into 2026 with some real support around Monken. Andrew Berry has been praised for overhauling the offensive line, and Cleveland used eight of its 10 draft picks on offensive players this year. The skill talent has a chance to pop, with Quinshon Judkins, Harold Fannin Jr., KC Concepcion, and Denzel Boston all in line for major roles.
But the biggest issue isn’t ceiling. It’s stability.
The Browns have lived with a constant game of musical chairs on offense, and that’s the part Monken has to fix first. Training camp should tell the story, especially once the pads come on and the competition turns real. How the quarterbacks handle protections, cadence, snap count, and the pressure of a more demanding practice setting could decide the Week 1 starter.
Cleveland also isn’t pretending this is a finished product. The Browns wouldn’t have traded Myles Garrett, the league’s most valuable defensive player who's still in his prime, if they truly believed they were set up for a Patriots-style surge.
So the summer battle may come down to something less glamorous than big-arm throws or highlight-reel plays. For Monken and the Browns, it might be about who can get the huddle right, line up cleanly, and avoid the kind of mistakes that have quietly wrecked this offense for too long.
In Other News...
Browns Fans Should Not Ignore The Buzz Around This Day 3 Pick
Joe Royer gave Browns fans something to keep an eye on from the moment Cleveland used a Day 3 pick on the Cincinnati tight end. He arrives with an interesting path, too, after starting at Ohio State before transferring to Cincinnati, where he emerged as a much more prominent part of the Bearcats passing game and turned himself into a name worth remembering for a team always searching for dependable help at tight end.
What has people around the program talking is the belief that Royer is more than just a depth addition. Cincinnati tight ends coach Josh Stepp had high praise for Royers work ethic, competitiveness, character and pass-catching ability, and that kind of feedback tends to matter when a late-round pick is trying to carve out a role. For Cleveland, the appeal is obvious: a player with production, a sturdy football background and enough buzz to make this one of the more intriguing bets in the class. [Read more 🡒]
Browns Could Face A Tough Tight End Decision Sooner Than Expected
Harold Fannin Jr. gives Cleveland something it has wanted for a while at tight end, a young player to develop under new coach Todd Monken. Even so, the Browns are one of the teams worth watching if the market shifts around that position, especially with general manager Andrew Berry signaling a willingness to be aggressive when the right move comes along.
Ben Solak floated a scenario in which Detroit could eventually listen on Sam LaPorta because of cap pressure tied to its growing list of big decisions, and that kind of ripple effect would not go unnoticed in Cleveland. The Browns also have the kind of draft capital and young pieces that can make a trade conversation worth having, so if a premium tight end ever does become available, their interest could surface quickly. [Read more 🡒]