Head coach Todd Monken and the Cleveland Browns hit the practice field on Tuesday for Day 1 of what could be a three-day minicamp for the team’s veterans. The workouts are voluntary, but as a first-year head coach, Monken is permitted to run organized workouts, including 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 drills, from April 21 to 23.
To the surprise of absolutely no one — including Monken — Tuesday’s session did not include star defensive end Myles Garrett. He’s been away from the facility since the conclusion of the 2025 regular season, and aside from a cryptic Instagram post and curious adjustment to language in his contract, Browns fans haven’t seen or heard much from Garrett since the NFL Honors ceremony.
That includes Monken, who revealed to reporters following Tuesday’s workout that he hasn’t yet met or spoken to the franchise's most valuable player.
“I can’t speak for Rudy,” Monken said of new Browns defensive coordinator Mike Rutenberg. “Myles and I have communicated by text, and I have not spoken to him in person. I can’t speak for Rudy.”
“It’s fine,” he added later. “This is voluntary. We’re making a big deal out of this. We really are. It’s voluntary. We have other guys besides Myles that aren’t here … and really all the players have informed us. They’ve been unbelievable with their communication. So is Myles. They’ve communicated — doesn’t mean I like the communication, but it’s voluntary. I wish they were all here. I’ve said that plenty of times. But every one of them is a Brown, and we’re excited that they are.”
Todd Monken deserves more than texts from Myles Garrett right now
Garrett has earned whatever offseason luxuries he wants to take. He’s about to enter his 10th NFL season, and he’s already a first-ballot Hall of Famer.
But not even a phone call yet for the new head coach? The Browns are just inviting unwanted noise and speculation by gift-wrapping this news to the local media.
While it would send a strong message if Garrett was in attendance to help Monken kick off his first offseason program as head coach, his absence this week isn’t really a story. He routinely skipped the voluntary portion of the offseason during Kevin Stefanski’s tenure, and owner Jimmy Haslam revealed to reporters at the NFL’s annual league meetings in Phoenix that he didn’t expect Garrett to report to the facility this month.
It’s just too easy for Garrett, while out on vacation in Italy or however he’s enjoying his offseason, to set up a FaceTime call to get a feel for his new head coach. Garrett publicly threw his weight behind former defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz, presumably as his preferred pick as Stefanski’s successor. The more press conferences we have with Monken informing reporters that he remains on a text-only basis with the team’s most important player, the more unwanted attention the team will get about a potential disgruntled star who’s looking for a way out of Cleveland.
That’s taking it too far at this point, but it would be easy to squash all the now unavoidable storylines surrounding Garrett, the new head coach, and the team in general. We'll first need to see his face, hear from him, or at least get the breaking news from Monken that they’ve finally found time to connect on a simple phone call for that to happen, though.
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