The Browns found that person in Monken, hiring him to be the 19th full-time head coach in team history.
Monken reiterated the importance of accountability in a virtual Q&A session with season-ticket members on Feb. 10. From the coaches he is selecting as a part of his staff to the approach with the players in the locker room, the dedication to instilling responsibility can build the culture Monken wants to create in Cleveland.
“It starts with the staff you hire, first of all, and who gets around your players,” Monken said. “That’s the starting point of that. And then what type of players that we have, which from what I’ve seen, we’ve got the starting point of that. Because you win in other areas. So, it’s the players that you have surrounded by the staff that you have.”
With Monken settling in as head coach and the 2026 offseason continuing, this theme of accountability will continue to take shape as different steppingstones occur and the Browns ultimately prepare for the 2026 season. But holding a level of responsibility doesn’t stop when the season rolls around; rather, the season will be the indication of how Monken and his coaching staff uphold the standard.
“And then it comes down to the players’ belief and us being able to put them in the right position, individually and schematically, and our belief in them and the work we put in every day,” Monken said. “I’ve heard it said before, I’m good with different personalities, but not with different mindsets. I think (Mike Vrabel) said that, and it resonates with me and made a lot of sense to me. Let the players be who they are, they should be who they are because everybody else is taken. Be the best you, don’t try to be somebody else because they are already taken. But we all have to have the same mindset of why we’re here – and that’s to be unbelievably good at football. That’s it. There’s no other reason we’re here other than to be elite at football.”