New Browns Head Coach Shares Identity of Team Heading into 2026 Campaign

The Cleveland Browns are looking to break out of the notion that they aren't a competitive football team anymore.

And to do that, this offseason, countless changes have happened throughout the organization.

From bringing in a new head coach to lead the ship, to moving in a new direction from aging veterans, the Browns are expected to look like a relatively new team by the time the 2026 regular season officially rolls around the corner.

On Friday, May 1, Monken was asked on 92.3 The Fan what he wants his stamp to be on the organization, with him providing a promising statement to the fanbase.

"I've said it before that I think I've said this a ton of times, but I really believe this," Monken began. "As much as I love winning and I hate losing, I despise crappy football. And I just think that it's just such a bad look for coaching. It just is. You look dumb as a coach, when you put bad football on the field. You want it to look like you want it to look like.

"If we ran power 62 plays in the game, they might be pissed off that we ran power 62 times. But if it looks like that's our identity and we're going to be a physical team and it looks like you want it to look like, you can live with it."

Browns need to be disciplined in 2026

Monken continued with the fact that he doesn't want his team committing penalties left and right or playing unorganized football. At the end of the day, he wants his team to look prepared and ready to play on gameday.

"But when you go out there and if you're jumping off sides, you have 10 on the field, you've got 12 on the field, the quarterback has anxiety at the line of scrimmage, Guys are going the wrong way," he said. "That's an indictment on coaching. And that's an indictment on us. So that's the starting point. You want to give yourself a chance.

"More games are lost than they're won. And that's the starting point for us as a team."

In the 2025 campaign, Cleveland's offense, more so than the defense, was all over the place at times. They finished the year with 64 calls against and over 450 yards lost on penalties, a sharp difference from just 33 calls and 279 yards against defensively.

The team's most penalized showing came back on Oct. 5, 2025, in an overseas matchup against the Minnesota Vikings. They ended up falling, 21-17, with six total offensive penalties resulting in 45 yards lost.

Even outside of the penalties realm, blunders were happening all year long.

In a late-season game against the Tennessee Titans, rookie quarterback Shedeur Sanders produced one of his best outings. He tossed for over 340 yards and found the endzone four times, but when the game was on the line and the Browns needed a two-point conversion, he was taken out of the game. The Browns ended up not converting, losing the contest, 31-29.

While those issues did happen under former head coach Kevin Stefankski, Monken plans to put the ship back on the right path. However, he wanted to make sure he recognized that he has tons of respect for what Stefanski did in Cleveland.

"I have a ton of respect for Kevin Stefanski," he said. "He is a fantastic football coach. You don't get to be a head coach in the NFL and not be a fantastic football coach."

As the rest of the offseason begins to heat up, the rookie minicamp and mandatory veteran camp are just around the corner. With Monken setting high expectations for sound football, it’s easy to imagine the excitement he feels heading into this next phase as he works to establish the team’s new identity and make it his own.

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