Head Coach Todd Monken (7.31.26)

Todd, this is the first day with fans out here. How does that change the vibe, the tempo, and the energy you see from the players?

“It’s cool, because you go for a couple of days and the vibe’s already there from the start of camp. I think it’s awesome that after a couple days, three days, you get the crowd here and it kind of pumps it up, it just does. It’s a little like when you’re in college in spring ball and it goes a few days, then you get a few NFL scouts and it picks things up a little, or you put some guys in NFL shirts, so it looks like scouts are there, something like that. It gets the juice going a little bit.”

 

Todd, that sequence yesterday — the false starts and operational problems with the one offense, is that your definition of crappy football?

“100%. That’s a direct reflection on the head coach and on us on offense. We had nine penalties on offense, and they were all pre-snap. What does that mean? It means we’re not there yet, we don’t play yet. We’re not going to stop trying to be elite at cadence. You can’t say you’re elite on offense unless you’re elite at cadence. You can’t go on the same snap count; you do a disservice to your O-line. So, we’re going to keep doing it until we get it right.”

 

During the half speed part at the end of practice, you went over and said something to the offense. Was there a message you were trying to get across? Something you weren’t happy with?

“We were doing situational stuff where you have to have the defense shadow, because we needed to get a completion. We have to get it to the next down and distance. If it’s full speed, like the one time the Shedeur (Sanders) didn’t throw it,  that’s where I stepped in. I was like, ‘They’re going to let us catch it, for God’s sakes, throw the damn thing.’ I obviously did a poor job explaining it. I’m like, ‘They’re going to let us catch it, we want to get to the next scenario of getting up to the line of scrimmage.’ We were doing some no-huddle stuff.”

 

Will Deshaun (Watson) take all the first-team reps today?

“He will.”

 

And what are you guys trying to emphasize today in practice?

“Today is third-and-extra-long. The first day was third-and-medium, third-and-long. Today’s third-and-extra-long. We’ll still work no-huddle. We’ve also got shells on, so it’s a bit of a longer practice session. We go from an hour-and-a-half, to an hour-forty-five, to two hours. So, we’ll work in some third-and-extra-long plays at the end. Our third-day install includes our three-level routes. The first day was quick game, yesterday was triangle reads, today is three-level routes, so it goes in that order. Each day you’re only doing pieces of your passing game. We have eight installs total, and by the time you get to nine, then we really focus on who we want to be.”

 

How much carryover are you looking for from the install in the offseason minicamp, or do you expect guys to kind of start over?

“Both – you’re exactly right, there’s both. You’ll have some guys who have been super diligent, whether in the spring or the last few days, and it comes back easily for them. Or guys that have gotten more reps. Not everybody has gotten equal reps, and for some it doesn’t come as easily. That’s why you re-install, why you go back out and practice the fundamentals, which is really what matters. We’re installing a large part of that is scheme, but none of it matters if we’re not fundamentally sound in our footwork, our IDs, our communication, all of that.”

 

You just laid out the day-by-day plan. How much time did you spend designing that heading into camp? You probably have it plotted it all the way through.

“I think next year will be easier. I’ll say that. The first year, you take where you’ve been before in terms of a practice pace or schedule, and then you see, we can always change. We’ll practice tomorrow, and if I don’t like it, we can change it on Monday. It’s okay, but you have to come up with the way you’re going to go about it, how you’re going to install. I’ve been calling it for a while now, so we’ve stayed on the same schedule we’ve had, with a few tweaks. It’s not hard, it’s just tedious. There’s a lot that falls on your plate the first year that, at certain times I’ve had someone just give me the schedule. Now I decide it, so it takes a bit more time, but it’s not hard.”

 

When is your first day in pads?

“Monday.”

 

We didn’t see Denzel (Ward) and Grant (Delpit) practicing through OTAs or minicamp. How different is it to have those two calibers of guys out there for your offense to work against?

“It’s awesome. You’re talking about two elite football players. It’s great for us as a team. They’re two of our team leaders and make a ton of plays on defense. Obviously as a safety, Grant gets us lined up, and Denzel showed up the first day we went out there, making plays like that, it changes the game.”

 

You never get asked about Dillon Gabriel. After two days, what do you think?

“I thought he looked really good yesterday, did some really good things. Guy’s a good quarterback. You don’t get to this level – same with Tay (Taylen Green) – without being elite. I don’t care if you’re a coach, if you’re in this building, you’re at the top of your profession. Coaching and playing. And everybody else in this building. So, they’re talented players; we just don’t have enough reps to go around. So, how does that change for any player on the roster? Keep doing what you did yesterday, right? Whether it’s him or anybody else who isn’t getting the same reps. But I thought he functioned at a high level. He had a really nice bench route where he anticipated the throw, and he prepares like he’s going to get first-team reps, which is awesome.”

 

We talked to Jared Verse yesterday, and he mentioned how vocal he’s been on this defense. How impactful do you think that’s been for the unit in these early practices?

“We talked about that a little yesterday, just the way he carries himself. For a guy who prepares like he does, he’s a self-made player, and who’s not going to listen to him? All he does is work – he’s a pretty serious dude. To me, he’s serious about football; off the field, I don’t know, but on the football side, it shows up on tape. Anybody who plays as hard and works as hard as he does, it’s easy to listen to and follow.”

 

You mentioned tweaking some concepts based on what you’ve seen from the players scheme-wise, have you adjusted any of your install based on what your players have shown you they can do?

“Some of that. I think there’s some of that, but we are who we are, what we believe in, so you’re right in some ways. Like, where are you going to go with it? Are you going to make the players fit what we believe in? Or are you going to fit that with the players you have? That’s still a work in progress until we get the pads on there’s a lot of that comes into play that you may have to lean on one way or another. Especially at the quarterback position, in terms of what they like, what they don’t, and what you’re able to do well consistently. That’s a great question, because both come into play – what we do, what we like, and what they do well. Then it’s our job to streamline that to give us the best chance to score.”

 

On Sunday, Carson (Schwesinger) mentioned he had a phone conversation with Luke Kuechly this offseason, and that’s a guy who he has been compared to coming in. You were in Baltimore last year and had to scout against him. Now that you’re here and have watched more tape from a Browns lens, how much of Kuechly do you see in Carson’s game?

“First off, let’s pull back a little on Luke Kuechly, who to me, is one of the all-time greats. We were in Tampa going against that guy — and first of all, I love Carson, please, that’s not on him. But wow — that dude, I know Carson will get there. But Luke Kuechly, was a complete pain in the a**. Calling out what you’re doing in your checks, he listened to the audio and pointed out, they’re going right, and most of the time he’s right. Every now and then he’s wrong, but that guy was fantastic. Carson is headed in that direction. He’s not as vocal right now, because of being sure of himself in terms of what we’re doing, but in terms of how he plays, how he attacks the game, and being all over the field, it’s very similar.”

 

Just to clarify on the cadence problems yesterday — does that take the onus off the offensive line? You had two new linemen in there with the ones.

“No, it’s on all of us. It’s on the coaches too. Are we doing it enough in the walkthrough? Are we emphasizing it enough on the field? We added three cadences yesterday, today we’ll add two, so we’ll be up to five, we’ll build up to ten cadences total. That’s a lot –  we’re going to throw it at them, because they’re all for different scenarios and different modes we want to be able to play in. In order to do that, there’s got to be some mental stamina that comes with it, especially with the O-line and the quarterback — you’re up there communicating, you’re the epicenter of what makes the offense go, and all of a sudden, you lose track a little of what the cadence was, or there’s a change of cadence. So, there’s communication involved — the quarterback can help with that, we can do a better job, and certainly up front we can too.”

 

How many different cadences would you typically use in a game?

“I’d hope we carry all of them. Right now we carry one. Let’s hope we get to two.”

 

Going back to the schedule and pace of practice — sports science is big in pro sports now. What’s your philosophy as a head coach on using that information?

“First of all, analytics – great question. Whether it’s the medical field, from injury status, the reps we get, or the way you attack a defense or vice versa, all of that comes into play. I think information is super important. But it’s a 20,000-foot view, every player is different. You can’t just say, ‘well, this receiver can only go so many yards’, because it’s different per player; I can’t judge it that way. So, we’re going to practice the way we practice, and if they believe we need to pull back on certain players, that’s what we’ll do, because not every player is built the same, and not everybody’s on special teams. Not everyone is involved with that. It’s the same with analytics offensively some of that pertains to, ‘Hey, you ought to do this, you ought to go for it.’ Well, who are you comparing that to? Where does the statistic come from? Right? They go for it on 4th-and-5, you’re getting it 60% of the time, well, who is that? Is that Tom Brady, Peyton Manning? There are variables that go into that. Holy cow, there are variables that go into that. So again, I love the information, and then you take it and make it your own, and do with it what you will.”

 

A couple of players have mentioned Rudy (Mike Rutenberg) adding more disguise to the defense. As the guy calling it on the other side, how much tougher does that make it? And was that something you talked to Rutey about before hiring him?

“I don’t see nearly as much of that. I see it as very similar to who we’ve been in the past. I think he’ll put his own spin on it, and the staff as a collective whole. This is the Cleveland Browns defense, just like it was last year. Between our staff and Rudy putting together the best plan, almost the same question, what do they believe in, and then what do our players do well? But I see a lot of similar things, we’re going to be an attacking-style defense.”

 

Todd, does your discipline style change, knowing with the procedural issues in general, with knowing how to get these guys up to speed on different cadences, it’s a new offense for these quarterbacks, and the offensive line coming together —does your discipline style change or does it stay the same throughout?

“Are you saying like a form of punishment? Are you saying yelling and screaming?

 

Not like formal punishment, but more or less…

Like what are you going to do if this continues?”

 

Yeah.

“Okay, I got you, I’m with you there. Let’s go a few days, we were in the spring, we got better as we went along. There’s a lot when you’re installing and there’s a lot of processing, and the defense is installing, so there’s a number of looks of the way they go about it, and then they’ve got to remember the cadence. And then you got, however many guys we have on offense. We’ve got maybe 40-something guys repping, so there’s a lot that goes into that, and everybody takes their turns. So, no, obviously we address it in the morning, we’re just going to continue to work if that’s what you do. That’s what you continue to do. Doesn’t matter if it’s a concept you have, a player that you keep developing – there are certain aspects of a player you keep developing. We’re going to keep working to develop our cadence.”

 

# # #