Once the Cleveland Browns named Todd Monken as their next head coach, the NFL world did what they always do to the Browns: laugh at them.
The Monken hire was immediately characterized as a bad decision, made worse by Browns' former defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz resigning. While only time will tell the quality of the hire, Monken’s arrival didn’t generate much excitement throughout the league.
That was on display again in a recent survey done by The Athletic, where a panel of nine NFL coaches and executives, who aren’t employed by the teams who made the recent hires, were asked to rank their top five head coaching hires of the cycle. Using a point system based on the results, all 10 new hires were ranked.
Monken was tied for last with Arizona Cardinals head coach Mike LaFleur, as the only two coaches who didn’t receive any points.
Browns head coach Todd Monken ranked last of new hires by NFL coaches and execs
Cleveland’s fans could read this and be discouraged, but they shouldn’t be. Jeff Howe, who wrote the piece, was honest that it’s hard to really know how things will unfold. That’s also reflected in the results of last year’s survey, where the panel clearly got the ranking wrong.
In the 2025 edition of this survey, the group was right about some hires, ranking Mike Vrabel to the New England Patriots No. 1 and Ben Johnson to the Chicago Bears no. 2. However, Pete Carroll to the Las Vegas Raiders was third, and he has already been fired. New York Jets head coach Aaron Glenn was ranked next, ahead of New Orleans Saints coach Kellen Moore, and it’s safe to say that would be switched if voters had a do-over.
Finally, Liam Coen, who quickly turned around the Jacksonville Jaguars, held the second-to-last spot, earning just one more point than Dallas Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer.
Simply put, no one really knows, and that’s why grades are supposed to be given out at the end of a semester, and not at the beginning. So while everyone is quick to criticize the Browns for hiring Todd Monken, the first-time head coach will have a massive opportunity to make everyone look foolish.