We’re officially down to a final four in the Cleveland Browns’ 2026 head coach search.
Los Angeles Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter, one of the team’s five scheduled in-person interviews for this week, canceled his meeting with the Browns with an eye on one of his many other opportunities.
Breaking: #Chargers DC Jesse Minter is not interviewing for the #Browns HC job today as scheduled, likely because he feels like he has other HC opportunities that are more certain, sources tell clevelanddotcom.
— Mary Kay Cabot (@MaryKayCabot) January 22, 2026
Minter becomes the second coach to say no thanks to the Browns’ request for a second interview, joining ex-Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel.
Cleveland’s current candidate pool is down to a pair of NFL coaching veterans now approaching their age-60 seasons, Jim Schwartz and Todd Monken, and a pair of young, offensive-minded stars with a combined eight years of pro coaching experience between them, Grant Udinski and Nate Scheelhaase.
A fifth candidate will be added to the mix in the coming days, as only Scheelhaase's meeting will count towards one of the team’s two required in-person interviews with diverse (minority or female) candidates.
But if we’re being honest, Minter’s exit feels like a major tell. The Browns don’t really need help on the defensive side of the football. They need someone to come in and revolutionize their offense, and all signs currently point to Udinski, the 30-year-old wunderkind of the Jacksonville Jaguars, being the perfect man for that job.
The Browns might’ve just stumbled into their perfect head coach
The Minter news really isn’t all that surprising. Cleveland’s head coach job was one of seven that interviewed for. He’s already completed a second meeting with the Las Vegas Raiders and is getting some buzz as a frontrunner for the Baltimore Ravens job.
While it was nice to see the Browns throw their hat in the ring for one of the most coveted candidates in this cycle, Minter to Cleveland never generated much buzz. Names like Udinski, Scheelhaase and Schwartz have all felt like the most realistic options since the team’s initial wave of interviews concluded last week.
FOX Sports insider Jordan Schultz called the two young candidates, Udinski and Scheelhaase, the “finalists,” in a social media post on Wednesday night, and the Minter news followed from Cabot and others less than 24 hours later. There’s a lot to like about the 35-year-old Scheelhaase as a former college quarterback who’s been working under Sean McVay for the past two years. But Udinski comes from the same tree, and although he’s five years younger than Scheelhaase, he has more NFL coaching experience.
Udinski joined Kevin O’Connell’s staff in 2022 as a coaching assistant and quickly climbed the ladder in Minnesota. He rose from assistant to the head coach — the best title ever for all the Dwight Schrute fans out there — to assistant QBs coach in 2023, to assistant offensive coordinator and QBs coach in 2024. He was then poached by Liam Coen and the Jaguars and hired as their OC this past season, but the lineage to McVay through O’Connell, who won a Super Bowl in 2021 as the Rams’ offensive coordinator, carries significant weight here.
When seriously considering a young head coach candidate a year or two early, as the Browns clearly are, the tiebreaker has to be experience. Udinski’s been on NFL sidelines three times longer than Scheelhaase, and has held the title of offensive coordinator; neither of the two have called offensive plays in a game yet during their still blossoming careers.
The Browns could’ve fast-tracked Schwartz into this job if they were all-in on him, but they’ve clearly been waffling on that decision. Monken has a proven track record as an OC and play caller, but hiring a 60-year-old, first-time NFL head coach is risky in its own right.
This clear pick here is Udinski — and the Browns should do everything in their power to play keep away from Buffalo or any of his other suitors, and get a deal done as soon as possible.