Todd Monken showed up to Wednesday’s press conference barely able to speak. He almost lost his voice, and that tells you everything you need to know about how seriously he’s taking this job. The Cleveland Browns‘ first-year head coach had screamed himself hoarse on the practice field. Deep, raspy, cracking mid-sentence, stopping to cough, the man was running on fumes vocally.
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“He’s doing a better job, I think he’s being more decisive,” Monken said of Shedeur Sanders, via Daryl Ruiter of 92.3 The Fan, his voice cracking through every word. “It just feels like he’s making quicker decisions. The ball’s coming out of his hands, which he’s going to have to do. Not that he doesn’t have playmaking ability, because he does.
“But his ability to process quicker and get the ball out of his hands and eliminate lost yards, plays is going to be huge. He has to be able to stack plays and score, which is ultimately the No. 1 thing to do.”
Browns beat writer Mary Kay Cabot caught it in real time, posting on X that the coach was “fighting through a lost voice.” But that’s Monken for you.
We’ll get to Sanders in a moment, but first, let’s talk about what Monken’s lost voice actually says about the man. Nobody knows for sure exactly why he lost it, but if you’ve watched him work, screaming his way through practice instructions during minicamp seems like a pretty reasonable guess.
In fact, BrownsZone reporter Scott Petrak put it plainly: “Monken is a screamer; he lost his voice Wednesday.”
#Browns Todd Monken, fighting through a lost voice, says the key for Shedeur Sanders is to “process quicker, get the ball out of his hands and eliminate lost-yardage plays.” The playmaking ability is there and he’s been more decisive.
If you followed Monken during his first stint with Cleveland as offensive coordinator back in 2019, none of this is surprising. He is direct, doesn’t sugarcoat things, is not shy about dropping a cuss word or two, and yes, he can get grumpy. He says what he means and expects what he expects.
With the offseason program under Monken last month, the defense was turning heads with interceptions and a forced fumble, per Camryn Justice of WNEWS. But when Monken was asked about those defensive plays, he wasn’t exactly handing out participation trophies.
“Yeah, we threw interceptions in 7-on-7 for God’s sake,” Monken said. “I mean, who does that? There’s no pass rush. I mean, it’s embarrassing.”
Then the mandatory minicamp ran June 9 through June 11, and those three days of full-squad work clearly took everything he had. On June 9, the opening day, he was already buzzing with energy despite the strain in his voice.
“Oh, it was great,” Monken told the media after practice. “I mean, it was really, we’ve had most of the guys here for nine weeks, so we’ve been on the field for three weeks previously. It was very similar to that. I thought the guys had great juice today.”
By Wednesday, however, that voice was gone.
Compare that to just days earlier, on June 3, before camp started, when he was speaking perfectly fine at a press conference. Three days on the field with a full squad will do that to you, especially when you’re the kind of coach who gives his all on the field.
And Shedeur Sanders seems to have figured out exactly what kind of coach he’s working for, and he’s not complaining one bit.
Sanders said after the second day of minicamp: “I enjoy it. I definitely like his expectations, and it gives you no choice but to be great or to get out of the way. It’s just that simple.”
What’s going on with the QB1 battle?
For all the encouraging words about Sanders, Monken has been careful not to make any announcement, because Deshaun Watson is still very much present. The two have been splitting first-team reps throughout the entire offseason program.
For instance, on Tuesday, Sanders got all the starting 11-on-11 reps while Watson worked with the second-team offense. They flipped it on Wednesday, and on Thursday, they split it down the middle.
So, when asked if he was any closer to naming a starter, Monken was straightforward.
“I would have hoped [to share the starter’s name], but I like both of them,” Todd mentioned on Tuesday. “As much as I’d love to make that decision, either by someone separating themselves upward or downward, either way, which has not occurred, and we haven’t even gotten to practicing against an opponent, putting the pads on, having a controlled scrimmage, or playing preseason games. I’m not there yet. That’s the reality of it.”
The quarterback question remains unanswered, and the Super Bowl run is still a long road away, but the head coach is already screaming himself hoarse trying to get there.