CLEVELAND, Ohio — Browns head coach candidate Nate Scheelhaase, who will interview with the Browns for a second time on Monday, has one fewer option now that the Steelers are hiring former Packers and Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy.
It also means that the Browns are the only team in the AFC North not to have settled on their next head coach, although they could be getting close.
Scheelhaase, 35, was the first request made by the Steelers in their bid to replace 19-year head coach Mike Tomlin, who stepped down just under two weeks ago.
But they opted for the other end of the spectrum — a 62-year-old with 18 years’ experience as a head coach, and a Super Bowl trophy to his credit.
Scheelhaase, the Rams pass-game coordinator, has never called plays at the NFL level, and has never been a coordinator in the pros.
But he draws the plays for innovative Rams coach Sean McVay, which has been a tremendous stepping stone for others into the head coaching chair, including Bengals head coach Zac Taylor and Jaguars coach Liam Coen.
Scheelhaase, who starred as a dual-threat quarterback at Illinois for four seasons, also brings the unique perspective of having played the most important position in football, which is valuable to the Browns as they try to develop Shedeur Sanders or another young quarterback. In the event Deshaun Watson starts for the Browns in 2026, Scheelhaase has institutional knowledge of his dual-threat skillset.
Scheelhaase is one of four Browns candidates interviewing a second time for their head coach vacancy, a process that began last week and will stretch into this week. Browns defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz interviewed on Monday, Ravens offensive coordinator Todd Monken on Tuesday, and Jaguars offensive coordinator Grant Udinski on Friday.
Scheelhaase is set to meet with the Browns a second time on Monday, after he faces the Seahawks in the NFC Championship Game on Sunday.
One league source said the Browns are prepared to fly out to Los Angeles for that interview, which will also count as one of the Browns’ two Rooney Rule interviews of diverse candidates, a minority and/or a woman.
Scheelhaase might also go to the Super Bowl, and if the Browns want to hire him, they’ll have to wait until after the game, which is Feb. 8 in Santa Clara, Calif.
Scheelhaase also had virtual head coach interviews with the Raiders and Ravens, who hired Chargers defensive coordinator Jess Minter as their head coach on Thursday, the same day he was scheduled to interview with the Browns at team headquarters in Berea. Minter canceled that interview as he zeroed in on the Ravens job, and Mike McDaniel canceled his second interview with the Browns on Wednesday as he got set to take the Chargers offensive coordinator post.
McDaniel later agreed to interview for the Bills head coach vacancy on Friday, but also canceled that interview, or perhaps at least postponed it, which was revealed on Saturday.
That leaves only the Browns and Raiders as current head coach options for Scheelhaase, and it remains to be seen if Las Vegas will interview him a second time. On Saturday, they interviewed former Giants coach Brian Daboll, who’s also interviewed with the Bills.
Three weeks into their search, the Browns seem to favor hiring one of their young candidates, either Scheelhaase or Udinski, who turned 30 on Jan. 12, and pairing him with Schwartz, who’s still under contract in 2026. Schwartz, 59, is still in the mix for the head coach vacancy as is Monken, 59, but the Browns want Schwartz to stick around as coordinator if he doesn’t get promoted.
NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported that Scheelhaase would likely keep Schwartz as defensive coordinator if he gets the job. But sources have told cleveland.com that Udinski and Monken are also open to that possibility, especially given Schwartz’s tremendous success with the unit over the past three seasons. During that span, the Browns defense has been No. 1 in the NFL in a number of key metrics, including total yards allowed.
Schwartz, who coached the Lions from 2009-13, would love a second chance at a head coaching job. He went 29-51 in his five seasons in Detroit and 0-1 in the playoffs, but has worked with four different teams since then and has won a Super Bowl with the Eagles. Browns defenders such as Myles Garrett, Denzel Ward and Grant Delpit have all come out in strong support of Schwartz as the Browns’ replacement for Kevin Stefanski.
The Browns, however, might opt for an offensive-minded head coach to help dig their beleaguered unit out of the doldrums and bring it up to playoff-caliber standards. The Browns finished 30th in total offense in 2025, including 27th in rushing and 31st in passing. They landed 31st in points per game with just over 16. In 2024, they finished last in the NFL with 15.2 points per game.
Monken has excelled as coordinator of the Ravens the past three seasons, coaching Lamar Jackson to his second NFL MVP Award in 2023. But the young, rising offensive stars both come either directly or indirectly from the coveted and highly-successful McVay tree, and could bring an explosive offense.
The Browns must also interview a second diverse candidate to fulfill the Rooney Rule before they make their hire if they haven’t done so already. They don’t have to announce every interview, and may have conducted one that no one knows about yet. Some have speculated that it could be a college coach, and they didn’t reveal it so as not to disrupt the school’s transfer portal or NIL situations.
If the Browns are Rooney Rule compliant by the time they interview Scheelhaase on Monday, they could hire him that day if he’s been eliminated from the playoffs. But they also really like Udinski, who turned 30 on Jan. 12 and would be the youngest head coach ever hired in the NFL, beating out Sean McVay, who was hired at 30 year and 353 days.
Like Scheelhaase, Udinski has never called plays in the NFL, but has such a brilliant offensive mind that the chore would be well within his skill set if he opts to do it himself. The Browns could also try to hire Monken as their offensive coordinator under one of the young coaches, but he’s got a chance to join John Harbaugh as coordinator with the Giants.
Whatever the case, the Browns could have their 19th head coach in place as early as next week.
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