The NFL not only moves fast, but it never stops moving. What is now a 365-day-a-year sport has had tentpole events like the Super Bowl, NFL draft, and NFL free agency for a long time. The league has also figured out how to make things like the schedule release and firings of coaches, “Black Monday,” almost as big as the games on the field themselves.
The Cleveland Browns were the first to fire their head coach on Monday and are working on lining up an interview with Baltimore Ravens OC Todd Monken
for their open position. After a down year in the AFC North, the Baltimore Ravens followed suit by letting go of their head coach, John Harbaugh, late Tuesday afternoon.
As everyone noted, the Browns should be highly motivated to try to get Harbaugh to be their next head coach. In 18 seasons as the Ravens leader, Harbaugh finished with a record of 180-113, including a Super Bowl Championship and 12 playoff appearances.
Teams like the New York Giants might be frontrunners for Harbaugh, but Cleveland has a few reasons he might be interested in them:
- Myles Garrett
- He’s an Ohio boy
- DC Jim Schwartz and OC Tommy Rees in place – Harbaugh was a Special Teams Coordinator prior to becoming a head coach and could keep a quality pair running the two main units
- Harbaugh’s Ravens were interested in Shedeur Sanders during the 2025 NFL draft
- Browns plan for a “heavy investment” in the offense this offseason
- The 6th overall pick
- Cleveland can have between $70 and 90 million in salary cap space (details in a later article)
- Browns working to set up an interview with Todd Monken first may have extra meaning if Harbaugh doesn’t keep Rees, especially given the timing of it today:
While Cleveland seems like an also-ran in the Harbaugh sweepstakes and is ranked very low by most among teams with head coaching openings in general, there are proper reasons for the Browns to be in the running.
Unlikely? Sure. Possible? In Cleveland and the NFL:
Perhaps another Northern Ohio kid can come back home to bring a championship to his childhood team and let the city know:
Might be getting (a lot) ahead of ourselves, but sports are supposed to be fun, right?
What percent chance would you give Harbaugh to the Browns right now? Any other reasons he might come that we didn’t list?
