Browns Clips
Jim Schwartz’s future is uncertain. He is still with the Browns but reportedly hoping to leave after the team selected Todd Monken over Schwartz for the head coaching job.
Browns cornerback Denzel Ward is among the players who want Schwartz to stay.
“I’m not sure what was true or was not true, so I’m not going to speculate,” Ward told Mary Kay Cabot of cleveland.com. “I’m just going to wait to see how everything plays out and look forward to, hopefully we’re still keeping him.”
Schwartz, regarded as one of the top defensive coordinators in football, has two years remaining on his contract. The Browns ranked fourth in total defense and 14th in scoring, and Myles Garrett is the overwhelming favorite to win defensive player of the year and Carson Schwesinger is expected to take home defensive rookie of the year.
Garrett and Grant Delpit have also publicly supported Schwartz’s return.
“I’ve got a lot of respect for coach Schwartz,” Ward said, “and he’s an amazing coach, and I’m hoping he stays on the team.”
The Saints will be marching into Paris during the 2026 season.
The NFL officially announced that they will be taking part in the league’s first-ever game in France on Monday. The game will be played at the Stade de France, which is the largest stadium in the country.
“We are excited to be selected to play in the first regular season game to take place in France,” Saints owner Gayle Benson said in a statement. “This moment is special not only because of the strong cultural connection between Louisiana and France, but also because we will compete before a growing Saints fan base in Paris.
The league did not announce the date of the game or the opponent. A report over the weekend said that the Saints will face the Browns on October 25.
Paris joins London, Melbourne, Rio De Janeiro, Madrid, and Munich as sites for international games during the 2026 season.
The Saints’ long-planned “home” game in Paris is coming in 2026.
French news outlet RMC Sport reports that the Browns will play the Saints on October 25 at Stade de France, the country’s largest stadium.
It will be the NFL’s first game in France, and a sellout crowd of about 80,000 fans is expected.
The NFL’s aggressive push at growing internationally shows no sign of slowing down. In addition to France, the NFL plans to play its first regular-season game in Australia in 2026, and the league has also played in the UK, Ireland, Germany, Spain, Brazil, Canada and Mexico. Some American fans don’t like seeing their teams lose a home game, and many fans dislike the early morning Sunday kickoffs to accommodate European time zones. But the league’s decision-makers have made clear that they think there’s money to be made in other countries, and that’s the bottom line.
The Saints have been saying for years that they’re eager to play in the NFL’s first game in France. And now it’s on the schedule.
Mike Bajakian is following Todd Monken to the Browns.
The team is hiring Bajakian as its quarterbacks coach, according to multiple reports.
Bajakian became Michigan State’s quarterbacks coach on Dec. 27 but will now leave for Cleveland.
He left the University of Tennessee as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in 2015 to work for the Bucs as their offensive coordinator. Monken was the Bucs’ offensive coordinator from 2016-18, overlapping with Bajakian.
Bajakian returned to college coaching in 2019 and has been there since, serving as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at UMass in 2025.
The Browns are hiring Danny Breyer as their pass game coordinator, Matt Zenitz of CBS Sports reports.
Breyer spent last season as an offensive assistant for the Ravens, so he is following head coach Todd Monken and offensive coordinator Travis Switzer from Baltimore. Breyer was with the Ravens for three seasons, beginning in 2023 as an offensive quality control coach.
He worked closely with the Ravens’ tight ends room the past two seasons.
Breyer previously worked for the Buccaneers as an analytics assistant (2016) before being promoted to defensive assistant coach (2017-18). He was with the Dolphins’ coaching staff during OTAs in 2015.
Before entering the NFL ranks, he was the assistant to the head coach/assistant director of player personnel at Indiana (2013).
New Browns head coach Todd Monken is looking to bring another one of Baltimore’s offensive assistant coaches with him to Cleveland.
Per Jeremy Fowler of ESPN, Travis Switzer is the frontrunner to become Cleveland’s offensive coordinator.
Switzer spent the last nine seasons with the Ravens, the last three as the team’s run game coordinator alongside Monken as offensive coordinator. Derrick Henry posted 1,921 yards in 2024 and 1,595 yards in 2025 with Monken and Switzer.
Switzer had served in several different roles with Baltimore, also working with the receivers and tight ends.
To this point, Monken has not announced whether or not he will call the offensive plays for Cleveland.
Todd Monken is in the Browns facility on Friday for the first time since agreeing to become the team’s head coach and a chat with quarterback Shedeur Sanders was on the list of his activities on the first day.
The Browns posted video of Sanders meeting Monken in an office and their interaction featured a callback to last year’s draft. Monken was the Ravens’ offensive coordinator at the time and there were reports, later confirmed by Sanders’s father Deion, that Sanders told Baltimore not to draft him a few picks before Cleveland selected him in the fifth round.
Monken reminded Sanders of that as the two men shook hands.
“We tried to draft your ass last year for God’s sake,” Monken said. “It all worked out. You remember that, right? Some day we’ll get a chance to talk about that.”
Deion Sanders explained that the family asked the Ravens — and the Eagles — to pass because they didn’t want Shedeur to be set up for a long run as a backup to an established starter. That approach worked out as the younger Sanders spent the second half of the season as Cleveland’s starter and the Ravens’ interest in him last year could be a good sign for his chances of getting a shot to continue in the starting role with Monken in Cleveland.
The Rams have hired Bubba Ventrone as their special teams coordinator, Tom Pelissero of NFL Media reports.
The Rams fired special teams coordinator Chase Blackburn last month after a series of blunders by the unit in a 38-37 overtime loss to the Seahawks. Assistant special teams coach Ben Kotwica finished the season as the interim coordinator, but the Rams muffed a punt in the NFC Championship Game.
The Steelers also requested to interview Ventrone.
Ventrone was the assistant head coach and special teams coordinator for three seasons on Cleveland’s staff. He has also coached for the Colts and Patriots since concluding a playing career that saw him spend time with the 49ers, Browns and Patriots.
The Browns are hiring offensive line coach George Warhop, Adam Schefter of ESPN reports.
Warhop is following Todd Monken from Baltimore, where Warhop was the offensive line coach for the past two seasons.
He previously coached for Cleveland from 2009-13. Warhop has also worked as an offensive line coach for the Rams (1996-97), Cardinals (1998-2002), Cowboys (2003-04), 49ers (2005-08), Bucs (2014-18), Jaguars (2019-21) and Texans (2022).
The Browns have four opening-day starters who are scheduled for free agency, so Monken, Warhop and the personnel department will have some work to do on the offensive line.
The Rams had issues with their special teams all season, including a crucial muffed punt in their NFC Championship Game loss to the Seahawks, and they are working to find a new coach for those units.
Tom Pelissero of NFL Media reports that they have requested an interview with Browns special teams coordinator Bubba Ventrone for the same role on Sean McVay’s staff. Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com reports that the Steelers have made the same request.
Ventrone also had an assistant head coach title during his three seasons on Cleveland’s staff. He has also coached for the Colts and Patriots since concluding a playing career that saw him spend time with the 49ers, Browns, and Patriots.
The Browns news comes shortly after the Browns announced the hiring of Todd Monken as their new head coach. The team already has a vacancy at offensive coordinator and passing on promoting defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz could leave the team with openings at all three coordinator spots.
The Steelers are in a similar position after hiring Mike McCarthy over the weekend.
