The Cleveland Browns wanted two things for the coaching staff this offseason: to hire a new head coach and keep defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz in the process. Though, hiring anyone other than Schwartz as the new lead man may have always meant those two goals were mutually exclusive.
Cleveland went with former Baltimore Ravens offensive coordinator Todd Monken instead of Schwartz, hiring the 59-year-old to the first NFL head coaching job of his career. Schwartz immediately let it be known he wanted out and didn’t intend to return to the Browns organization after that decision.
On Friday, January 30, former star defensive back and current league analyst Richard Sherman linked Schwartz to the open defensive coordinator position with the San Francisco 49ers who just lost DC Robert Saleh to a head coaching vacancy with the Tennessee Titans.
“I think if Schwartz goes to another team, a contender who is out of a [defensive] coordinator right now, I think he has a head coaching job within the next two years,” Sherman said, per The Volume. “And by a contender, I’m thinking of the San Francisco 49ers.”
Jim Schwartz May Have Better Path to Head Coach as Defensive Coordinator With 49ers
GettyCleveland Browns defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz.
Sherman elaborated, noting that San Francisco can get what it needs over the next couple years from Schwartz, and the Cleveland’s current DC can find his way back to a top job in the league over that span.
“I would imagine [49ers head coach] Kyle Shanahan is on the phone right now, ‘Whatever you need,'” Sherman continued. “And after losing Robert Saleh to a head coaching job, and showing a pipeline for his [defensive] coordinators to be elevated to head coaching jobs — you talk about DeMeco Ryans, you talk about Robert Saleh twice, even my guy Jeff Hafley who was on the staff in [2018] is now a head coach right now for the Miami Dolphins.”
The potential issue with Sherman’s suggestion is that Schwartz, who led the Browns’ defense to the No. 1 overall ranking in 2023 and No. 4 ranking last season, remains under contract in Cleveland and the team doesn’t need to let him out of his deal.
Jim Schwartz May Feel Too Disrespected to Return as Browns DC Under New Head Coach Todd Monken
GettyCleveland Browns head coach Todd Monken.
Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com argued on Saturday that Schwartz should return to Cleveland because the defense is in such a strong place, largely because of him, and the Browns only passed over him for the head coaching job because of their dire needs on the offensive side of the football and Monken’s overwhelming credentials there.
“Once the dust settles and the anger dissipates, Schwartz should strongly consider coming back and helping get the Browns back to the playoffs with one of the most dominant defenses in the NFL,” Cabot wrote. “He lost out to Monken because the Browns need to revive their underperforming offense, and that’s their No. 1 commitment right now.”
However, Sherman’s take included the notion that Schwartz may feel too disrespected by the Browns organization to return to Cleveland — specifically to coach under Monken.
“To hire somebody else within the division (Monken) is probably another slap in the face for [Schwartz],” Sherman speculated. “That’s an offensive coordinator he’s been game planning against for years. That’s almost a rival. It just seems like this decision injects dysfunction into the Browns. It injects dysfunction that wasn’t necessarily there.”
Jim Schwartz Linked to Elite NFC Team Amid Browns ‘Dysfunction’