According to Cleveland.com, former Browns defensive coordinator Jim  Schwartz was one of the three candidates for the open head coaching job in Cleveland. His defenses delivered even when the other side didn’t, and he had an impressive resume to pitch himself as the winner. But the Browns had other plans.

What followed was an ugly split, leading the franchise to lose a genius on its staff. The Cleveland Browns went ahead with Todd Monken because their offense had been grasping at straws for a long time now. Being ignored for a reason like that didn’t sit well with Schwartz, who revealed his feelings about the decision in a tell-all interview on the Ryan Ripken Show.

“We had a lot of success on defense, and the Browns made a change at head coach, and they passed over me with all the success that we had and the ability to develop players,” Schwartz said. “Our best players had their best years, all those different things. And that was a decision they made. They wanted to go with an offensive guy. They chose Todd. I’m fine with that. They can make decisions that they want to make, but they can’t expect me to stay on board for that.

“Anybody that’s in any business, you get passed over for a promotion when you’ve done a really, really good job in your job, and you think you were in line for that promotion. It’s, you know, it’s time to go.”

For Jim Schwartz, the Browns’ head coaching job felt like a natural progression.  The veteran coach had been a defensive coordinator for most of his career, and felt like the best candidate to replace Kevin Stefanski. In his three years of leading the Browns defense, the team ranks first in opponents’ first downs allowed per game (16.5), third and fourth-down percentage (33.8% and 41.2%, respectively), total passing yards per game (181.5), first downs per pass attempt (30.9%), and most team tackles for a loss (342), per Cleveland’s findings.

After his first year with the Browns, Schwartz was named the AP NFL Assistant Coach of the Year. He’d also built a star out of Myles Garrett, who won the Defensive Player of the Year honor twice. Cleveland’s defense was ranked among the best in the country last season too, even though the team was not having a good time. The head coach position seemed like a done deal for him.

“I’d certainly consider it,” Schwartz said in December 2025, when asked about a head coaching role. “I think in any business you aspire to the top. And I’m no different than other people in that way.”

But the offense, which was in complete disarray, won over the Browns. And in came Todd Monken.

Reports of tension between Schwartz and the management came out soon after. The Browns would be at a complete disservice if he left, but Schwartz just did not want to be in the Cleveland system anymore.

“Having command of the players and having command of the locker room, all those things are extremely important,” Schwartz added. “And I didn’t feel like I could do my job after getting passed over for the head coaching job. It sort of just put me in a tough position, ‘Hey, we want you to listen to this guy, but we didn’t want to make him the head coach.’

Even Myles Garrett, the Browns’ crown jewel until his recent trade to the Los Angeles Rams, publicly showed support for Schwartz to be hired as the head coach. Instead, he was delivered the tough news that his DC hadn’t made the cut, and was kept informed about Schwartz’s next steps. There was some worry if Garrett would leave because of the former coach’s absence, as he’d already requested a trade in the 2025 offseason.

If there is one thing about Cleveland that Schwartz can rightly take credit for, it’s Garrett. The former coach also revealed that he was adamant on the defensive end pushing his limits because of what he was capable of.

Jim Schwartz reveals his role in Myles Garrett’s sack record

During the Week 17 clash against the Cincinnati Bengals, all eyes were locked on Myles Garrett, who was half a sack away from equalling the all-time sacks record set by Hall of Famer Michael Strahan in 2001.  In the fourth quarter of that game, he crossed that mark by bringing down quarterback Joe Burrow, who also happens to be his top sacking target in his sacking career.

The league got to see Garrett’s full ceiling in this game: the DE was a generational player. And Schwartz had some role to play in this massive achievement.

“If he didn’t get a sack in that series, I was getting ready to tell him on the sideline, ‘Hey, look, I don’t care if you’re offsides 10 times in a row. Jump the snap count every single time. We’re getting this sack,” Schwartz said.

Before scripting the record, Garrett echoed his coach’s exact words: “They all count. So, I don’t care if I run his a– out of bounds. However he gets got, he gets got.”

Now, with both of them gone, it seems like one of the most impactful periods in Cleveland’s defensive history has come to an end. Whether or not this will come to bite back at the franchise is left to be seen.