The Cleveland Browns' new head coach has never been the frontman for an NFL franchise, and his rookie experience on that front showed when he hilariously missed the coaches photo at the Annual League Meeting last week. But Todd Monken has still been around the block a time or two.
Simply put, Monken has coached and been around plenty of talent before at both the college and NFL level. His newest toy, so to speak, is tight end Harold Fannin Jr., who had a good enough rookie campaign that Andrew Berry finally felt comfortable parting ways with David Njoku after nine years.
Nobody expected the 2025 third-rounder, especially with a shaky quarterback situation and Njoku in the room, to explode like he did in his inaugural NFL campaign. But Monken, who watched from the AFC North rival Baltimore Ravens' sideline, is already making hefty comparisons for Fannin.
Todd Monken compares Cleveland Browns TE Harold Fannin Jr. to Brock Bowers
When speaking with Zac Jackson, the Browns' beat writer for The Athletic, Monken went into detail about why Fannin Jr. reminds him of former Georgia Bulldogs and current Las Vegas Raiders tight end Brock Bowers, which should have fans foaming at the mouth.
"He's a little like Brock Bowers in the fact that his body type is more of an H and F, run after catch more than length, more as a C gap blocking Y. So you love his athleticism, you like his ability to run after catch, his ball skills like Brock, very similar in that regard."
To dumb down the football jargon: Both Bowers and Fannin Jr. are incredibly versatile, can do pretty much everything on the football field, and are electric pass-catchers. Monken, of course, was Bowers' offensive coordinator at Georgia for two years and helped mold him into a top NFL prospect.
Bowers hit the ground running in the NFL, earning First-Team All-Pro honors in 2024, despite a horrendous quarterback situation in Las Vegas. He continued to shine in an injury-riddled second campaign with an even worse environment.
As bad as the Browns have been in the last two years, their offense has never been as dysfunctional as the Raiders', and it especially shouldn't be with Monken dialing up the plays. Monken helped Mark Andrews and Isaiah Likely reach new levels in Baltimore, and he can do the same with Fannin Jr.
Plus, Fannin Jr. already has a nice baseline to go off, as he caught 72 passes for 731 yards and six touchdowns as a rookie, and he also added a score on the ground. Whoever is at quarterback for Cleveland, Fannin Jr. should be one of, if not the top targets in the passing game.
Although he may have a little ways to go, it is good to hear that Monken, an experienced coach, is already seeing similarities between Fannin Jr. and arguably the best tight end in the NFL. Let's just hope he can actually get there.