Play-caller
- Calls plays: Todd Monken (HC) — confirmed. Monken stated he will call plays himself while HC, with first-time OC Travis Switzer (ex-BAL run game coordinator 2024–25) not calling (SI/Browns Nation/Yahoo, Feb 2026; verified 2026-07-07). Kevin Stefanski was fired 2026-01-05 after 5-12 and is now ATL's HC with Tommy Rees calling plays there (ESPN, Jan 2026) — the entire 2025 CLE play-calling lineage (Stefanski wks 1–9, Rees wks 10–18) is gone.
- Tenure with team: year 1 (hired on a 5-year deal, Jan 2026 — ESPN) · Prior relationship with QB1: none with Watson or Sanders; called plays for Lamar Jackson (BAL 2023–25) and coached Joe Flacco in CLE 2019 as OC (didn't call plays there — Kitchens did).
Last 3 play-calling stops (skip non-calling years; Georgia 2020–22 was college — noted below, not tabled):
| Stop (team, yrs) | PROE | Neutral pass% | Sec/play (neutral) | Motion% | PA% | 11 / 12 / 21% | Condensed% | RB tgt share | WR1 TS | Inside-10 pass% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BAL OC, 2025 | −8.8% (nfelo, 2025) | UNVERIFIED | ~29.0 (nfelo pace, approx) | UNVERIFIED | UNVERIFIED | 52 / 30 / 18 (nfelo, 2025) | UNVERIFIED | UNVERIFIED | UNVERIFIED | UNVERIFIED |
| BAL OC, 2023–24 | +4% on 1st downs in 2023 vs −5% 2019–22 baseline (NBC Sports, 2024) | 53.7% (2023) → 52.6% (2024) (DraftSharks) | UNVERIFIED | UNVERIFIED | UNVERIFIED | UNVERIFIED | UNVERIFIED | UNVERIFIED | UNVERIFIED | UNVERIFIED |
| TB OC, 2018 (also passing-game caller 2016–17) | UNVERIFIED | UNVERIFIED | UNVERIFIED | UNVERIFIED | UNVERIFIED | UNVERIFIED | UNVERIFIED | UNVERIFIED | UNVERIFIED | UNVERIFIED |
Context on the table: BAL raw pass rate 53.6%, 58.5 plays/gm in 2025 (data/stats/2025/pbp_summary.csv, pulled 2026-07-07); BAL raw pass rate fell 49.7% (2023) → 47.5% (2024) after the Derrick Henry signing (DraftSharks, Jul 2026). TB 2018 led all teams in WR PPR points; his offenses ranked 1st/5th/10th in WR PPR points in TB 2016–18 (DraftSharks). Georgia 2020–22 (two national titles) featured Brock Bowers as the target hub.
Read: Monken's BAL tendencies (deeply negative PROE, slow pace, 30% 12 personnel) were Lamar/Henry roster-shaped — separate the caller from the roster. His TB/air-raid roots and pre-BAL history (3 of his first 4 offenses ranked higher in pass than rush attempts — DraftSharks) plus a 6.5-win roster point to a much more neutral-to-pass profile in CLE, filtered through a year-1 install drag. The stickiest caller-shaped signal is TE usage: 20%+ TE target share in 5 of his 7 offenses, 22%+ in each of the last three BAL years (DraftSharks, Jul 2026) — he has already publicly comped Harold Fannin Jr. to Brock Bowers. Expect heavy 12/big-slot TE usage, a spread-spacing dropback game, and less outside-zone/PA than the departed Stefanski scheme.
Scheme family
- Run scheme: gap/duo-leaning with inside zone mix — OC Travis Switzer was BAL's run game coordinator for Derrick Henry's downhill gap/duo attack (clevelandbrowns.com, Feb 2026). Fits: Quinshon Judkins (downhill, contact balance, goal-line mass) is a clean scheme fit; Dylan Sampson fits the space/satellite role, not the between-tackles work.
- Pass-game family: air raid–rooted pro spread (Monken: Leach tree via Okla. St., modernized at TB/UGA/BAL) — spacing and dropback volume over the Stefanski wide-zone/PA marriage, with heavy 12-personnel and TE-as-primary tendencies from the BAL years. Implications: big-slot/TE target funnel (Fannin), healthy slot volume (Concepcion), mid aDOT, less schemed condensed-set YAC than the previous regime — Stefanski/Rees-era designed-touch roles are void until re-established.
