Jay Glazer is known for his Sunday morning news drops, but he picked the Saturday of wild-card weekend to reveal a major piece of news pertaining to the Cleveland Browns.
During the FOX Sports pregame show, Glazer hit on all eight teams currently searching for a head coach. When he got to the Browns, he said the quiet part out loud about defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz and his future with the team.
“They’re being told, all candidates,” Glazer said, “that they want to keep Jim Schwartz in there as the defensive coordinator.”
Browns fans probably aren’t surprised by that report. Schwartz is well respected in Cleveland and is presumably a top candidate to replace Kevin Stefanski as head coach. He’s also under contract through the 2026 season, according to ESPN, so it makes sense that the team would try to keep him in the building, especially given the success of the Browns’ defense over the past three years.
But when you’ve won eight games in two seasons, and one playoff game in 26 years, your front office shouldn’t be selling coordinators to prospective head coaches. It’s just the latest second-guess in a search that isn’t exactly off to a roaring start.
Browns’ dysfunction hits new levels with latest report on Jim Schwartz
It’s starting to feel like Schwartz is the current leader in the clubhouse to land the Browns’ head coach job. He interviewed with the team this week, and a promotion would be the cleanest way for owner Jimmy Haslam and GM Andrew Berry to keep him in the building for Myles Garrett and company.
It’s certainly possible that a young, offensive-minded candidate — like Mike McDaniel, who will reportedly interview for the Browns job this coming week — would be down to team up with Schwartz, keeping him as the de facto head coach of the defense. That would still be a bit awkward, though, as Schwartz would’ve been passed over by his own team in that scenario.
As for defensive-minded candidates, like Chargers DC Jesse Minter? It gets complicated. New head coaches typically have full autonomy over the staff, and they’re much more likely to bring in guys they know, or have worked with in the past, than they are to try and find common ground with an established coordinator whose scheme and philosophy may differ from theirs.
if Schwartz does indeed end up being the Browns’ pick as head coach, he’d likely end up retaining current offensive coordinator Tommy Rees. The Browns would have to hire a DC to replace Schwartz, and would likely evaluate the special teams situation closely, but they’d essentially be running it back in 2026 (which would be a major slap in the face to Stefanski).
Once again, Haslam and the Browns find themselves in a major mess, one that easily could've been avoided by cleaning house in the first place.