With all due respect to young, ascending coaches like Arden Durde and Dan Pitcher, the Cleveland Browns didn’t exactly blow their fans away with their initial wave of head coach interview requests this week.
That appears to be changing, though, based on the latest reporting.
Browns insider Mary Kay Cabot expects the Browns to be in on both John Harbaugh and Mike McDaniel, though potential interviews with those coaches aren’t expected to take place until next week. In the case of Harbaugh, the culture-setter who’s spent the past 18 years tormenting the Browns with an overall record of 28-8 in their AFC North rivalry, the interest goes both ways, per Cabot.
To the credit of owner Jimmy Haslam and GM Andrew Berry, the team isn’t only casting a wide net, but it’s reportedly targeting the top candidates in this cycle.
One of the top names on just about every team’s wish list is Jesse Minter, the defensive coordinator of the Los Angeles Chargers, and according to ESPN insider Jeremy Fowler, the Browns turned some heads on Friday by officially throwing their hat in the ring.
Browns could go from buyers to sellers when it comes to courting top HC candidate Jesse Minter
If the Browns do get the chance to speak with Minter, fans would love to be a fly on the wall for that meeting.
Over his two years as DC, Minter has helped build the Chargers into one of the NFL’s best. They enter the wild-card round of the AFC playoffs ranked top-three against the run, and top-10 against the pass, in total EPA (expected points added), per SumerSports.
Minter’s Chargers are also among the league leaders in limiting explosive plays, as they play some of the highest rates of two deep safeties in the NFL. All-Pro safety Derwin James is a big reason why, but Los Angeles aligned in a zone defense on over 80 percent of its snaps in 2025, which is the second-highest rate of any team.
Some traits of the Chargers' defense:
— Chad Graff (@ChadGraff) January 7, 2026
-- They play with two deep safeties at the fifth-highest rate in the league.
-- That helps them rank top-10 in limiting explosive passes.
-- They rank second in zone usage, playing zone D more than 80 percent of the time. pic.twitter.com/SCxGxG4IOC
The Browns, on the other hand, play the highest man coverage rate in football at 43.4 percent, per Sharp Football Analysis. For Cleveland, that strategy makes a ton of sense, as it creates tight-window throws for opposing quarterbacks who are already obsessing over where Myles Garrett’s lined up on every play.
Garrett could be a major selling point for Minter, along with cornerback Denzel Ward and linebacker Carson Schwesinger. He would have to mold his defense to match the Browns’ personnel, and the organization’s obvious respect for Jim Schwartz and his work over the past three years could factor heavily into the equation.
The Browns should also expect some competition from the Ravens, who had Minter on their staff as a defensive assistant from 2017-2020. But while the NFL world seems to assume that Cleveland’s at the bottom of these candidates’ wish lists, the Browns are in a unique position to sell themselves to bright defensive minds like Minter.