Jim Schwartz Explains Browns Split After Todd Monken Hire
Jim Schwartz said he left the Browns after being passed over for the head coaching job because staying would have made the situation impossible to manage. On Tuesday, the former Cleveland defensive coordinator said a year away from the NFL is the cleanest path after the team hired Todd Monken in January.
Schwartz and the Browns
Schwartz spent three seasons as Cleveland’s defensive coordinator before the offseason turn that ended his run. The Browns chose Monken instead of Schwartz for the top job, and Schwartz resigned the following month rather than stay on staff.
“Anybody that’s in any business, you get passed over for promotion when you’ve done a really, really good job in your job, and you think you were in line for that promotion, it’s time to go,” Schwartz said on the Ryan Ripken Show. He added, “I mean, a forced marriage isn’t going to work in the NFL.”
He also said he did not feel he could keep doing his job after missing out on the promotion. “To expect me to stay and to be me, be on board for that, that’s just the tough situation. And it wouldn’t have been good for me, and it wouldn’t have been good for Todd,” Schwartz said.
Monken Gets His Own Staff
Schwartz framed the split as the best outcome for both sides. “Todd deserved his own guy,” he said, adding that it was better for Monken to move forward with his own staff than to keep an arrangement that could have split loyalties inside the building.
Mike Rutenberg, the former Atlanta Falcons defensive coordinator, is taking over Schwartz’s role. Schwartz said he will not coach in the NFL this year, even though he remains under contract with the Browns.
Browns Defense Moves On
The timing leaves Cleveland changing defensive leadership after a season in which Schwartz’s unit ranked among the NFL’s top five in sacks and yards allowed. That production is now tied to a new staff, while the Browns also traded reigning Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett to the Los Angeles Rams on Monday.
Monken said in his introductory news conference that he was not hired because of Schwartz and wanted to build the roster on the offensive side. For Cleveland, the immediate task is replacing a coordinator who delivered top-five results while the team turned the page at head coach and then moved on from one of its cornerstones.
