Why Jim Schwartz to the Steelers is the best-case scenario for everyone involved

Since returning to the NFL fold in 1999, the Cleveland Browns have been the punching bag of the NFL. Those teams in New York will take turns trying to challenge the Browns for that title from time to time. But no one does consistently crappy quite like Cleveland.

And here they are, doing it again.

There were 10 head coaching vacancies in this NFL hiring cycle. The Browns were one of the final three with their job still open earlier this week after they were spurned by several candidates who actually asked to have their names removed from consideration. Yikes.

In the end they somehow chose the most boring and—at the same time—most frustrating option left on the board: former Baltimore Ravens offensive coordinator Todd Monken.

Monken has no prior head coaching experience and it seemed like very limited (if any) interest from other teams during this hiring cycle.

But even with those strikes against Monken, the biggest mistake of this process was how the Browns handled defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz. 

Jim Schwartz could stick it to the Browns by joining their biggest rivals

When he came on in 2023, Schwartz and his defense nearly single-handedly turned the Browns into a team to be taken seriously. Schwartz won the AP Assistant Coach of the Year that season, and he led a top five unit in total defense again in 2025.

It made sense that Schwartz was the other top candidate to take over as head coach. But now that they’ve gone with someone with a less proven track record over him, he wants out, per Ari Meirov and others.

“Jim Schwartz has, in fact, told members of the Browns—essentially — to go screw themselves after being passed over for the HC job,” Meirov wrote on Twitter. “The Schwartz element was the biggest hurdle Cleveland faced in its long and complicated search, and it’s now blowing back in their face.”

We know from his handshake incident with Jim Harbaugh back in 2011 that Schwartz can be surly. And he can hold a grudge.

So if he is as mad as these reports claim he is about this situation, there’s really only one place for him to go: the Steel City. The 49ers and Chargers also have DC vacancies. But they don't have the hatred factor.

The Browns and their fans hate the Pittsburgh Steelers more than any other franchise. And it’s not close. It makes sense considering the Steelers went 35-7-1 against Cleveland from 1999-2019. The recent beef between T.J. Watt and Myles Garrett—though their respective fanbases are largely responsibly for it—has only added to the animosity.

So what better way for Schwartz stick it to his old, unappreciative employer than to join their nemesis? 

If Pittsburgh’s current DC, the much-maligned Teryl Austin, does move on, that will be a juicy opening. The Steelers need a shake-up on defense, but the unit is still chock-full of Pro Bowl caliber players, both youngsters and veterans.

Not only would the Schwartz-Steelers marriage be just what the doctor ordered for both team and coach.

It would really stick in the craw of the Cleveland Browns. And that added bonus could be what tips the scales in Pittsburgh's favor for the Jim Schwartz sweepstakes.