Entering what will be a massive week for the 2026 NFL coaching carousel, as the top dominoes begin to fall, the Cleveland Browns had one undeniable frontrunner to replace Kevin Stefanski.
That would be Jim Schwartz, the known commodity in Cleveland who not only has prior head coaching experience, but has built the Browns’ defense into one of the most feared units in the NFL.
Even if the Browns go with an offensive-minded head coach like Todd Monken or Grant Udinski, with an eye on rebuilding that side of the football, the team’s goal would be to keep Schwartz on the staff, either as the defensive coordinator or assistant head coach.
But with the Buffalo Bills’ massive decision to fire Sean McDermott, sending the Bills’ job to the top of every candidate’s wish list, Schwartz entered his second interview with Cleveland on Monday with some added leverage. Buffalo entering the mix, with the chance to coach Josh Allen, changes everything, and with no clear front-runner for the Browns at this point, the safest choice in Schwartz makes the most sense.
Not so fast, though, says team insider Mary Kay Cabot. While Schwartz did indeed meet with Browns brass on Monday, the discussion was only partly about his vision as the potential next head coach of the franchise.
The Browns’ second meeting with Jim Schwartz makes their ultimate plan painfully clear
According to Cabot, Schwartz’s latest interview was more of a larger conversation. The team used that time to discuss the 59-year-old’s capacity for working in tandem with a younger, offensive-minded coach like Udinski, Mike McDaniels or Nate Scheelhaase.
"Part of Schwartz’s interview on Monday was to help determine how he might fit with the other candidates as defensive coordinator if he doesn’t get promoted,” Cabot wrote for cleveland.com. “The Browns would love Schwartz, 59, to return for a fourth season as coordinator if they hire someone else to replace Kevin Stefanski, and keep their dominant defense humming along. … Ideally, the Browns would probably love to pair him with one of the younger candidates, and perhaps give him the added title of assistant head coach. It remains to be seen if the new coach would be up for that.”
As for the results of that meeting? We’re about to find out via the team’s actions in the coming days. The Browns still need to fulfill the Rooney Rule before making a hire, and they’re not expected to get there until meeting with Scheelhaase again after he coaches for the Rams in the NFC Championship Game.
Schwartz expressed a desire to be a head coach again this year, and has also interviewed for the Baltimore Ravens’ job. Would he be down to work with a 30-year-old head coach like Udinski, if Cleveland goes in that bold direction? According to ESPN, his contract with the Browns runs through the 2026 season, so unless he lands the Ravens’ job, he won’t have much of a choice.
The Browns have been open about keeping Schwartz on staff, and they have the right to block lateral defensive coordinator moves due to his current contract. When reading between the lines of Cabot’s latest insider report, it does seem like his second interview was less focused on him becoming the 23rd head coach of the Browns, and more about how things will be structured if/when the team goes in that direction.
Owner Jimmy Haslam has the power to have his cake and eat it too with Schwartz. Keeping Schwartz and landing a top offensive candidate in this cycle is the obvious best-case scenario, and the ongoing speculation of that being the Browns’ preferred path just got very real.