Before the Cleveland Browns hired Todd Monken as their next head coach, the team considered their former defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz for the job.
Schwartz was most definitely a viable candidate. After all, he had NFL head-coach experience and a long track record of success as a defensive coordinator that included his three-year stint in Cleveland from 2023-25.
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However, the Browns ultimately decided to go with Monken, which led to Schwartz wanting out and eventually resigning despite the Browns’ desire to keep him.
For the first time since all that went down, Schwartz sat down with Ryan Ripken for an interview and made the case for why he deserved the job.
“It sort of is what it was,” Schwartz said. “We had a lot of success on defense and the Browns made a change at head coach, and they passed over me with all the success that we had and the ability to develop players, our best players had their best years, all those different things. And that was a decision they made.”
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Jim Schwartz on the Browns Head Coaching job:
"They wanted to go with an offensive guy. They chose Todd. I'm fine with that. They can make decisions that they want to make but they can't expect me to stay on board for that… a forced marriage isn't going to work in the NFL…" pic.twitter.com/rrNFkidig8
— Ryan Ripken (@ryanripkenshow) June 2, 2026
As far as the Browns wanting him to stay on board is concerned, Schwartz said that was an unrealistic expectation and it wouldn’t have been fair to Monken.
“They wanted to go with an offensive guy. They chose Todd. I’m fine with that. They can make decisions that they want to make, but they can’t expect me to stay on board for that,” he said.
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“Todd deserved his own guy. A forced marriage isn’t going to work in the NFL,” Schwartz added. “It wouldn’t have been good for me and it wouldn’t have been good for Todd. It was best for him to get his own guy in there and to move forward with him as opposed to just having an arranged marriage and having me there and maybe having some players more loyal to me than him. It can just be a bad situation. 33 years in the NFL, I’ve never been around that before. That all went into the decision.”
Jim Schwartz domino effect?
Browns defensive end Myles Garrett is all smiles as he jogs back inside before a game, Dec. 21, 2025, in Cleveland. USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
In the wake of the Myles Garrett blockbuster trade, Zac Jackson of The Athletic, who is also a Browns beat writer, said Garrett would still be in Cleveland if Schwartz was the head coach.
“If Jim Schwartz was the coach, (Garrett would) still be here, and (the Browns) would be saying our defense is gonna be good enough to carry us and we’ll see,” Jackson said on 92.3 The Fan.
While that’s definitely a logical take because of how close Garrett and Schwartz were, one has to wonder just how long that would’ve lasted.
MORE: Browns included quasi-poison pill in Myles Garrett trade
After all, the Browns are in the midst of another rebuild and it’s fair to assume Garrett would have grown tired with what figures to be at least another year or two of losing as he enters the back nine of his NFL career.
Now, Garrett gets an opportunity to win a Super Bowl with the Los Angeles Rams and the Browns get a trio of NFL Draft picks and edge rusher Jared Verse to aid their rebuild.
Meanwhile, because he resigned, Schwartz will sit out the entire 2026 NFL campaign.