.jpg)
14 hours ago
3
Jim Schwartz ran the best defense in the NFL for three straight years in Cleveland. He developed Myles Garrett into the single-season sack record holder and coached Carson Schwesinger to the Defensive Rookie of the Year award in 2025.
When the Browns fired Kevin Stefanski and opened a head-coaching search, Schwartz was widely viewed as the favorite, but the organization hired Todd Monken instead.
Schwartz is now spending 2026 sitting at home because of it, under contract and unable to join another team after choosing to resign. On the Ryan Ripken Show, a clip of which went viral through ESPN Cleveland on Tuesday, he explained why that decision was never really a choice at all.
"We had a lot of success on defense, and the Browns made a change at head coach, and they passed over me, with all the success that we had and the ability to develop players, our best players had their best years, all those different things," Schwartz said.
"They wanted to go with an offensive guy. They chose Todd. I'm fine with that. But they can't expect me to stay on board for that. Anybody that's in any business, you get passed over for a promotion, when you've done a really, really good job in your job, and you think you were in line for that promotion, it's time to go."
What Schwartz said about the locker room dynamic made staying unworkable
He was measured about the organizational decision.
"Todd deserved his own guy. A forced marriage isn't gonna work in the NFL. Having command of the players and having command in a locker room, all those things are extremely important, and I didn't feel like I could do my job after getting passed over for that coaching job."
“The Browns made a change at head coach and they passed over me with all of the success that we had,” - Former Browns DC Jim Schwartz speaks 👀👀👀👀 pic.twitter.com/tatbfstMsh
— ESPN Cleveland (@ESPNCleveland) June 2, 2026Schwartz acknowledged the situation would have been equally difficult for Monken.
"Maybe having some players more loyal to me than him. It can just be a bad situation. Thirty-three years in the NFL, I've never been around that before."
Cleveland's defense ranked first in total yards allowed in 2023, fourth in 2025 at 283.6 yards per game, and was the only unit in the league to hold opposing offenses below 300 yards per game across all three seasons under Schwartz.
This is also the second time the Browns passed on him for their head coaching vacancy, having done the same in 2020 when they hired Stefanski.
Cleveland hired Mike Rutenberg as Schwartz's replacement, and Monken has said the system will remain largely intact. Schwartz made clear he has no bitterness, just clarity.
"I wasn't upset about it. I was disappointed about it. I wasn't mad about it. But my experience told me that wasn't gonna be a situation that was gonna work."
English (US)