The Cleveland Browns have yet to make a decision on their next head coach, but recent developments continue to point in the same general direction as to who the team’s next leader is going to be.
Cleveland has a second interview scheduled with Los Angeles Rams pass game coordinator Nate Scheelhaase, 35, next week, following his team’s NFC Championship showdown with the Seattle Seahawks.
“Nate Scheelhaase is a top candidate for the Browns and would likely keep Jim Schwartz as DC, per [Ian Rapoport of NFL Media],” ESPN Cleveland posted to X on Saturday, January 24. “The Browns will interview Scheelhaase next week.”
The Browns will interview Scheelhaase next week.
Schwartz, who has served as Cleveland’s defensive coordinator for the last three years, is someone the franchise wants to keep on the staff in some major capacity — either as DC or potentially as the next head coach.
But the Browns are about to undertake a roster-wide rebuild on offense and have arguably the worst quarterback situation in the NFL with two mid-round rookies in Shedeur Sanders and Dillon Gabriel heading into their second years and Deshaun Watson on the final season of his contract as the three best options under center.
The general feeling is that the Browns would prefer a young offensive mind to take the reins as the team’s CEO, hire out a quality offensive coordinator to replace Tommy Rees who left to join Kevin Stefanski with the Atlanta Falcons and leave the defense in the capable hands of Schwartz, who has fielded the Nos. 1 and 4 units in the league in 2023 and 2025, respectively.
Nate Scheelhaase, Grant Udinski Fit Profile of Young Offensive Coach Browns Might Prefer
GettyOffensive coordinator Grant Udinski of the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Other factors point seriously to Scheelhaase as the guy in Cleveland.
The Browns had six candidates lined up for second interviews. Beyond Scheelhaase and Schwartz, those names included Mike McDaniel, Jesse Minter, Todd Monken and Grant Udinski.
McDaniel pulled his name out of contention for the job, instead taking an offensive coordinator position with the Los Angeles Chargers. Minter also cancelled a second interview and has since accepted a head coaching position with the Baltimore Ravens, Cleveland’s AFC North Division rival.
The Ravens fired John Harbaugh this offseason after nearly two decades with the team, and the Browns never even got in the room with him before he accepted a HC position with the New York Giants. Cleveland also reached out to Rams defensive coordinator Chris Shula late last week, but he declined even a first interview with the organization.
Monken, 59, and Udinski, 30, are both offensive coordinators, a step above Scheelhaase in the coaching hierarchy. Monken served in that role under Harbaugh for the past three seasons and is currently unemployed, though most analysts believe he’s the favorite to assume the OC duties with the Giants if he doesn’t end up the head coach in Cleveland.
Udinski currently holds an OC position with the Jacksonville Jaguars, who won the AFC South Division in 2025 and lost to the Buffalo Bills by three points over Wild Card Weekend in this year’s playoffs.
Mike McDaniel’s Exit From Browns’ Interview Process Put Team in Violation of NFL Rule
GettyFormer Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel.
Considering the Browns’ inability to draw interest from the most prominent candidates, it behooves them to assume the strategy of offering the position to someone who is perhaps one-three years of experience shy of landing a different HC job and willing to jump at an earlier opportunity.
Cleveland has reportedly entertained that idea, which comes through in the candidacies of Scheelhaase and Udinski.
Another factor that points Scheelhaase’s way is the Browns’ potential decision not to bring in another minority candidate for the head coaching position and violate the league’s Rooney Rule in the process.
Cleveland intended to comply with the rule by offering a second interview to McDaniel and Scheelhaase, the two serious candidates for the position who come from diverse ethnic backgrounds. When McDaniel declined a second interview, it put the Browns in violation of the Rooney Rule, which could cost the team hundreds of thousands of dollars in the form of a fine.
However, at this point, bringing in a “token candidate” simply because of his race to fulfill a rule that the team intended to comply with all along may be less politically correct and more insensitive than simply moving forward with the four candidates the team has clearly honed in on: Scheelhaase, Udinski, Schwartz and Monken.
The league may still fine the Browns if they hire Scheelhaase. But if Cleveland doesn’t bring in another last-second candidate to comply with the rule, it may be an indicator that Scheelhaase is the clear frontrunner.
Young OC Emerges as Frontrunner for Browns Job Amid New Developments