The Kyle Shanahan-Sean McVay trees have blossomed a number of notable "offensive guru" NFL coaches. That group obviously includes Shanahan and McVay themselves, and names like Matt LaFleur, Mike LaFleur, Kevin O'Connell, Liam Coen, Zac Taylor, Mike McDaniel and Klint Kubiak. Todd Monken isn't one of them, but the first-year Cleveland Browns coach should have the same acclaim as that group after the latest and perhaps greatest masterpiece of his coaching career: leading the Deshaun Watson-quarterbacked Cleveland Browns to a 3-1 start and first place in the AFC North.
Monken has flashed many flourishes of brilliance. As Oklahoma State's offensive coordinator, he helped quarterback Brandon Weeden (22nd overall pick in 2012 NFL Draft) and receiver Justin Blackmon (5th overall pick in 2012 NFL Draft) power their squad to a 23-3 record as college football's most electrifying passing tandem. In 2018, Monken worked as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator.
The Buccaneers went 5-11, but it wasn't because of his offense -- Tampa Bay's defense surrendered 29 points per game, the second-most in the NFL that season. Monken cobbled together the league's No. 12 scoring offense (24.8 points per game) with a quarterback platoon of Jameis Winston and Ryan Fitzpatrick. Collectively, Monken squeezed a combined 5,125 yards passing and 36 passing touchdowns out of the two of them.
As the Georgia Bulldogs offensive coordinator from 2020 to 2022, he helped quarterback Stetson Bennett go from a walk-on to a two-time national championship-winning passer across the 2021 and 2022 seasons. Yes, those Bulldogs squads had an embarrassment of NFL first-round draft picks among their defensive players in those years, but Monken's Bennett-led offenses put up the ninth-most points in college football in 2021 (38.6 points per game) and the fifth-most in 2022 (41.1 points per game). Monken's magic helped lift Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson to new heights.
Jackson won the 2023 NFL MVP under Monken, but the peak came the following year in 2024 when he earned first-team All-Pro honors despite finishing as the MVP runner-up to Josh Allen. Jackson completed the 2024 regular season with the following all-time production: 4,172 yards passing, a 41-4 passing-touchdown-to-interception ratio, 915 yards rushing and a 119.6 passer rating. That means Jackson finished the 2024 regular season with the following firsts, per CBS Sports Research: Jackson's 119.6 passer rating ranked as the fourth-most all-time in a season, trailing only three occurrences that resulted in NFL MVP accolades: Rodgers in 2011 (122.5) and 2020 (121.5) and Manning (121.1) in 2004.
All of those feats of coaching acumen are strong, but none is as incredible as what Monken is doing as a first-time NFL head coach in Cleveland. The Browns are 3-1 and in sole possession of first place in the AFC North for the first time with Deshaun Watson as their quarterback. The last time they were in first place in the division was Sept. 22, 2022, when Watson was still suspended by the NFL for his off-field legal issues.
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