CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Browns hoped they could talk three-year defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz into coming back after being passed over for the head coaching job in favor of Todd Monken, but it wasn’t to be.
Schwartz, 59, resigned on Friday with two years left on his lucrative contract, a league source told Cleveland.com. The Browns retain his rights, and at this point, have no plans to let him out of his contract. It means he’ll have to sit out these two years until the two sides reach some kind of resolution.
“(Thursday), Jim Schwartz submitted his letter of resignation as defensive coordinator of the Cleveland Browns,” the Browns said in a statement. “We’d like to thank Jim for his contributions to our organization over the last three seasons. Our search for a new defensive coordinator will begin immediately.”
Monken said during his introductory press conference that the Browns will run the same attacking 4-3 scheme, and he plans to keep most of the defensive staff intact. Some of them, including safeties coach Ephraim Banda and linebackers coach Jason Tarver will likely get interviews for the job, a league source tells cleveland.com. The Browns must also interview two diverse candidates to satisfy the Rooney before making their hire.
Texans defensive pass game coordinator Cory Undlin, 54, who was in Cleveland from 2005-08 under Romeo Crennel, is also on Monken’s radar for the job, according to Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated. Undlin, who worked with Monken in Jacksonville as a defensive assistant and defensive backs coach in 2009-10.
Schwartz, who reportedly packed up his office and left CrossCountry Mortgage Campus in Berea angry the day Monken was hired over him on Jan. 28, came to team headquarters on Monday to talk to Monken, but they reached no meeting of the minds.
The writing was on the wall during Monken’s introductory press conference on Tuesday, when he made it clear that he “didn’t take this job because of Jim Schwartz.”
“First off, my anticipation is we’re not going to change the system,” Monken said in his presser. “Very difficult to go against. Not planning to change the system. We’re built for the system that they’re in currently, and I’m not going to get into staffing because that’s not at this time to get into that, but they can be rest assured that we’re going to keep the same system, we’re still going to let them attack, we’re still going to let them play free. I can’t see any other way. They’re a big reason why I took this job, the defensive players.”
He went on to deliver the quote heard ‘round the NFL about his premier coordinator.
“I didn’t take this job because of Jim Schwartz. I have a lot of respect for Jim Schwartz as I would hope he has for me. But I took it because of the players that are here, the ownership, (GM) Andrew Berry, and the ability to build this from the ground up on the offensive side. And I said this to the other guys, I didn’t think I’d say it, but I’m going to say it: when I was preparing for the Cleveland Browns, I wasn’t trying to chip Jim Schwartz. I was chipping Myles Garrett and when I was sliding the protection to the outside ‘backers or Grant Delpit blitzing off the edge, I was sliding the protection to the players, and when I was worried about throwing to the right against Denzel Ward or Tyson Campbell to the left, that’s who I was worried about throwing at.”
Schwartz resigned on the same day that two of his defenders earned prestigious awards for their outstanding play in 2025. Myles Garrett won AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year honors for the second time under Schwartz, with the first time coming in 2023. This time, Garrett became just the second defender in NFL history after J.J. Watt in 2014 to win it unanimously. Linebacker Carson Schwesinger, the Browns No. 33 overall pick out of UCLA, also won AP Defensive Rookie of the Year honors.
Garrett, who also set the NFL sack record in 2025 with 23, was among the defenders who endorsed Schwartz for head coach , and emphatically stated that they didn’t want him to leave.
On Jan. 28, the day Monken was hired and Schwartz left the building, Garrett posted a photo on his Instagram story of a fast food worker sitting on a bench and hanging her head. The photo wasn’t captioned, but it seemed a clear message of his dismay over Schwartz’ departure.
On Tuesday, Browns owner Jimmy Haslam, who called on Garrett to be even more of a team leader in 2025 in the wake of his trade demand and subsequent $40 million a year extension, said he wasn’t worried about Garrett’s reaction.
“Listen, I love Myles, OK?” Haslam said after coach Todd Monken’s introductory press conference on Tuesday. “I haven’t talked to him since the day after the season, but I’m highly confident Myles will come in here and break the sack record again and be the Defensive Player (of the Year). He hasn’t been named it (yet), but I’ll be shocked if he isn’t and will be a leader of our team.”
Browns GM Andrew Berry was also confident Garrett would carry on as the leader of the defense.
“We kept Myles abreast of the process throughout,” he said. “So obviously he knew the news before you all did. So Myles is a great team player and I’m not really worried about that.”
After accepting his award on Thursday night, Garrett sounded like a player ready to come back and build on his historic season.
“If we stay healthy, we can be the best defense unanimously as well,” Garrett said. “It’s family.”
He assured Browns fans that better days are ahead for the 5-12 team, despite knowing that his beloved defensive coordinator probably wasn’t coming back.
“It’s only (great) things that are coming next,” Garrett said. “I expect nothing but excellence coming forward and I’m grateful for every second I get with this team.”
Schwartz, the former head coach of the Lions from 2009-13, was one of three finalists to replace Kevin Stefanski, including Monken, 60, and Rams passing coordinator Nate Scheelhaase, 35.
He had an excellent chance to get the job, but the Browns opted for the candidate who present the best plan to fix their beleaguered and points-starved offense.
This post will be updated.
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