Head Coach Todd Monken (4.24.26)
As you look at everything, all the activity you guys have done, you know, across really the first few days, how much more better do you feel about where this roster is as you kind of take the next step forward?
“Feel great addressing the receiver room and the O-line room along with the safety position. I think as we went into the draft, and I think Andrew (Berry) can speak to this more than I can, but it’s where we hoped we would head, where we would address.”
Is Austin Barber a tackle or can he move inside?
“(We) see him as a tackle to start, obviously has some flex. We think could move inside.”
Talk about, you know, back to back receivers in the first and second round – that doesn’t happen often. So what is your reaction to getting those two guys?
“Well, I think it compliments. If you take Denzel (Boston) after KC (Concepcion), I think he compliments KC. He’s a different body type than what we have. We were looking at someone we thought could be a size matchup and especially in the red zone, which we did not have. So loved his competitive spirit. Just talking about Denzel now. Spoke with Jedd Fisch, his head coach at Washington, who I’ve got a ton of respect for, been in the NFL and raved about Denzel, loves to practice, competitive, a lot of fight in him. He’s come a long way as a player and is only going to continue to get better. And we certainly needed to just continue to upgrade that position, and we did.”
What’s the feeling coming out? To come out of this Draft with four players in the first two nights that a lot of folks had first round greats on.
“Well, I mean ultimately now whether we take them in the first round, second round, third round, whatever their grades are now – it’s up to us as a coaching staff to develop them. And that’s why we’re hired. That’s why coaches are hired to develop the players that show up in your locker room. And you know, you’re always trying to maximize a player’s measurable skill set and that’s what we’re going to fight like hell to do.”
Still kind of a hole in the middle of your offensive line. I know Elgton Jenkins can go there, but how much discussion in the Draft room has there been about the center position?
“There has been and there’s a possibility we’ll still address that as we get further into the Draft.”
Todd I know you talked about Denzel’s red zone ability, how important was it to have two receivers that have complimentary skill sets to do what you want to do offensively?
“Probably more important than usual just to the makeup of our receiver room as it sits right now. Would have not have been as big a deal if you would have had some bigger body types. But when you look at some of the body types we have when we take the field every day, we certainly needed to get bigger. We certainly needed to add some size to that room. And you know, Denzel provided that for us.”
Probably a better question for Andrew, but kind of unusual to trade out of the room and then come back in. What’s the process in the room?
“It was a lot of fun. I mean, it was a heck of a ride. I was just in there for the ride, so it was pretty cool.”
Was Austin (Barber) overlooked? And then you guys were like ‘Oh, wait a minute, there’s a guy we do want after all?’
“Are you talking about Barber? (Yeah.) No. I mean, we really liked him from the jump. You don’t know how the board, again, Andrew, can answer this, you don’t know my limited experience of this. You don’t know how it’s going to go. There are certain players that are picked higher than you would have thought, and there’s others that are a little bit lower. Certainly, we knew we had to address the offensive line. And so, as he was still up on the board, I think the opportunity to move back and then as it continued then – let’s not wait any longer. Let’s go up and get him and we’re fired up to get him.”
The competition now in the receiver room, what do you see in total there?
“Well, I just think you have to keep adding to the room as best you can. You’re trying to raise the floor. I mean, ultimately in any position group, you start by raising the floor and developing who you have. And that started this past week. So, it just turned out the way the Draft unfolded and Andrew again, can speak to this, that when we got to the spot that we had at 7 would be actually 39. But today, 7, we did have opportunities and speak to it to move back, but we really thought at that pick take Denzel.”
Do you feel with the guys that you added, with the guys that you have, do you feel pretty good about the potential explosiveness of your offense?
“I feel better.”
You mentioned safety being something you guys are obviously looking at on the other side of things. Just what strikes you and stands out about Emmanuel McNeil-Warren and what do you like with what he brings to the table?
“Length, speed. Tough. That’s it. I mean, he’s got great length, excellent speed and he’ll hit the heck out of you. I mean, that’s three pretty good characteristics of a safety.”
Were you kind of surprised on how the board fell today and getting Denzel with a first round pick?
“Surprised? I would not say that. I would not say that of the picks, I would not say that I was surprised, especially on the offensive guys. If you asked me where those picks went, I would have said it was pretty close to where we kind of had targeted, where we thought they would be available. Again, Andrew can speak to that. I’m speaking for me, in terms of where I would have thought because I did evaluate all those players and I would have said that was about right and the board actually played out that way.”
How much more fun is it if fun is the right word, doing this as a head coach instead of offensive coordinator?
“Well, I have one more level of input I guess as opposed to a step down, you know, from the head coach end to the offensive coordinator. But ultimately, it’s more fun because, you know, when you’re an offensive coordinator, you’re really not responsible for winning, you’re responsible for scoring. And when you’re the head coach, we’re responsible for winning. So, I certainly want to score, but more importantly, we got to win football games. And so when it came down to when you’re talking about defensive players, I’m all for great defensive players going to help us win. Ultimately, that’s our job as an organization to head coach is to do everything in our power to put a roster together. It gives us a chance to compete every week and ultimately turn this organization into a consistent winning one.”
Someone mentioned how your messaging about what type of players you want is really direct to get the idea of what you’re looking for. Do you feel like you’ve been listened to? Is this the type of player you want to run the offense?
“Not really. I mean it doesn’t really work that way. There are pieces like that. I take that back. There are elements of what you may need from a position. What type of tight end, for instance, you want a fullback, you’re going to be an 11 personnel team. So, personnel wise much more than maybe the player because I don’t think the parts that make a player, how they’re wired, their toughness, mental toughness, you know, their self-awareness. Do they love to practice? Do they love football? I think that’s from the jump, that’s who you want to surround yourself with. So, but, maybe a little bit in terms of how you see usage of a player, it does you no good to take a player without a plan for them. And I think we all saw KC the same way, how we could utilize him. I think we all saw it the same way in terms of Denzel. I think, you know, when you talk about the offensive lineman, you’re just trying to get some guys that you think can play tackle but also have position flex. I think that’s the best way to go about it.”
Speaking of fullbacks, do you and your staff still consider (DT) Adin Huntington a viable fullback?
“Well, it’s funny, the first time I saw him, I’m like, ‘You’re the fullback here, right?’ You know, and he looked at me like, you know, no, I’m a defensive tackle. So that didn’t go over great. The first conversation I had with him, I’m joking. He was – he was fine. But ultimately, he’s going to want to play defensive tackle first. But he certainly showed some promise in the backfield and obviously has the toughness and the want to. And you can see that on special teams. He played on special and you could see him on kickoff. So, I do think that is an option as we move forward. But again, I think depending on how much you’re going to use that position, which we’ll, as we go along, we’ll find out. It’s hard if you’re going to be a 21 personnel team to have a part time fullback. So, we’re going to have to make that decision. Is it a situation only, or you’re only talking about a little piece, maybe goal line, short yardage or is it more than that as a normal rundown piece? And if it is, and we’re going to need more than a part time fullback.”
We didn’t get to watch the last two practices of minicamp, just the first one, obviously. So can I make you kind of share. How did (QB) Deshaun (Watson) and (QB) Shedeur (Sanders) and (QB) Dillion (Gabriel) look?
“We just couldn’t get past the draft and get right back to the quarterback. Anybody got some (DE) Myles (Garrett) questions too while we’re at it [joking]? I mean, hell, well, we’re just, you know, here at night. First off, I’ll address the question. First of all, it was awesome. Three days. The weather was unbelievable. To get out on the grass and pump the music and get fired up being together and the neighbors complained and we didn’t care and we pumped up the music louder. If they don’t like it, they can move and so I didn’t care. And it was like, you know, being out there with the guys and just getting a little bit of a feel for who we have on our roster. And I thought, all three quarterbacks, at times you could see the positives in their game and learning the new system, and they’ve been awesome in the meeting rooms and on the field, and it was just kind of dipping our toe in the water. But I thought Deshaun looked really good at times, and there’s other things he’s got to work on. Same with Shedeur and with Dillion. So, I didn’t really do a deep dive into all of them, but it was a heck of a lot of fun being out there, I can tell you that.”
Upstairs, sitting next to Andrew in the room, what’s that been like for you as a head coach? And you and Andrew find yourselves thinking alike as the board comes together, as you’re sitting next to each other?
“Well, I think we see players the same way in their value, how they’re wired. That part of it is for sure. Other than that, I just have a small, like, picture of each player. I certainly don’t have the picture of every single player that they do that they’ve spent years, at least one year and probably more than that on a player. So, what I do know is the players that I did look at, and I listen to the scouts, and we all talk about how they’re wired and do we want him representing the Cleveland Browns? Is that who we want? And we’ve got a great group. We’re just continually trying to raise the floor. But I’ve been thoroughly impressed with the process of Andrew and his staff, and I can see how the picks came to fruition last year with the talent that we have, and I feel really good about what we’re adding at this point.”
When it comes to Emmanuel, does Rudy want to play a bunch of three safety packages?
“Not really going to get into what we’re going to do concerning we won’t have film yet for our first game, so we’re just fired up to have him.”
To go back to the receivers. I know when you first talked about your offense and this offense’s identity, talked about scoring being the most paramount thing, like, do you feel good about the different ways those guys can score that you’ve added?
“I do. Again, like I said, I think they complement each other. I think it started with we had to address the offensive line. I mean, that’s in both areas the receiver position and the offensive line. And I really feel good about where we’re at this point.”
In getting your evaluation of how the quarterbacks look. There are still plenty left on the board on the final day of the draft. Andrew has talked about how it’s wholly realistic, you guys could add another quarterback to the room. Would you be kind of excited to do that? And do you see, are there some guys that you like from the quarterback position?
“We’ll see how it plays out. I don’t think there’s any position that is off the board that we wouldn’t take, even after taking two receivers. We might end up taking the third. We might take another offensive lineman, could be a quarterback. I don’t think there’s any position, when I left the Draft room that I didn’t see anything that wouldn’t interest us at any position.”
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