Despite widespread doubt, new Cleveland Browns HC Todd Monken's extensive experience suggests he might outlast many of the other head coaches hired during this cycle.
Klint Kubiak became the final head coach hired this cycle, joining the Las Vegas Raiders this week after helping lead the Seattle Seahawks offense to the Super Bowl this past season.
His hiring brings an end to the 2026 coaching carousel, which featured a whopping 10 teams filling head coaching vacancies. Of course, that includes the Cleveland Browns, who wound up tabbing Todd Monken for the role.
With all the jobs now filled there seems to be a general consensus from anyone who cares to rank the hires, that Monken is the worst one of this coaching carousel.
Fox Sports' Colin Cowherd is the latest talking head to chime in on the debate, and while it's understandable that many people simply don't trust the Browns with these types of decisions, and that the prospect of hiring a 60-year-old as a first time head coach is a bit perplexing, there's actually a pretty legitimate chance Monken outlasts many of his fellow 2026 coaching classmates.
History even tells us so.
10 head coaches were also hired back in 2022. It's a list that featured Lovie Smith with Houston, Matt Eberflus with Chicago, Doug Pederson with Jacksonville, Brain Daboll with the Giants, Kevin O'Connell with Minnesota, Mike McDaneil with Miami, Nathaniel Hackett with Denver, Dennis Allen with New Orleans, Josh McDaniels with Las Vegas and Todd Bowels with Tampa Bay.
A mere four years later, only two of those coaches remain employed as the head coach of the team that hired them, O'Connell and Bowles. Another three, McDaniels, Smith and Hackett didn't even make it through two seasons before being fired.
Along with Bowles and O'Connell, Daboll was the only other coach to at least start a fourth season with their respective team. Ultimately, the newly named Titans OC was fired during this past season, in early November.
A whopping seven the 10 hires made in 2022 flamed out after just three years, establishing quite the precedent for this current class of coaches. There's a pretty good chance that in another three years, we'll be talking about upwards of two thirds of this cycle of hires suffering a similar fate, especially considering six of them are first time head coaches.
Monken is obviously one of those, along with Jeff Hafley in Miami, Jesse Minter in Baltimore, Kubiak in Vegas, Mike LaFleur in Arizona and Joe Brady in Buffalo. While everyone seems convinced Monken isn't long for the job in Cleveland, who's to say any of those first time coaches are automatic slam dunks?
The truth is, nobody really knows how any of these six will be as head coaches. What is undeniable, though, is that Monken has more tangible years of coaching experience that has prepared him for this role, than any of the others. That does mean something.
Situation also matters. The truth is, Monken is stepping into a situation in Cleveland where the organization seems to clesrly understand that they're starting behind the eight ball on the offensive side of things. One would think an offensive minded coach, hired to correct that situation, will have a reasonable leash to execute their vision.
Simply put, fixing the Browns offense is a multi-year project, what sense would it make to pull the plug after just a year? That bodes well for Monken outlasting some of his coaching counterparts, enough where I feel pretty comfortable saying he won't be the first coach from this cycle fired. Rankings began damned!
What if the Bills flame out early on in the playoffs in back-to-back years? Is Brady safe, when his predecessor just got fired for failing to reach the Super Bowl once after a decade in charge.
What if likely No. 1 overall pick Fernando Mendoza isn't the "can't miss QB" the Raiders hope he is? Will Kubiak get a second crack at finding a QB if this one fails?
Is Minter a guaranteed slam dunk everyone thinks he is in Baltimore, where there's plenty of pressure to win now? Do people trust that teams like the Dolphins and Cardinals finally got their head coach decisions right?
Even Pittsburgh, where veteran head coach Mike McCarthy is going to be expected to buck a long-standing trend of making the playoffs but never advancing out of the wild card round, is a precarious situation. What happens if he doesn't?
This isn't to say Monken is a lock to see a second contract here in Cleveland. In three years, the Browns may be going through this process all over again. The notion that Monken is the worst hire, though, it strictly based on organizational reputation and nothing else.
I'll take the field when it comes to which coach from this cycle is looking for work first.