Giants suffer first loss of offseason with Browns' Todd Monken decision

The New York Giants have been considered by many as big winners of the early portion of the NFL offseason after they hired John Harbaugh as their next head coach. 

Big Blue has now suffered its first significant loss of the Harbaugh era. 

Cleveland Browns take Todd Monken from Giants

On Wednesday morning, NFL Network insiders Ian Rapoport, Tom Pelissero and Mike Garafolo reported that the Cleveland Browns are hiring Baltimore Ravens offensive coordinator Todd Monken as their next head coach. Monken had been heavily linked with the Giants.

Monken, 59, became the Ravens' OC as part of Harbaugh's staff in early 2023 and seemed to help quarterback Lamar Jackson build on his previous successes. In Monken's first season with Baltimore, Jackson earned the second MVP Award of his career. 

The hope among Giants fans was that Monken's experience with Jackson would help 2025 rookie Jaxson Dart develop into a top-tier quarterback. Dart now will have to make such growth under a different coordinator. 

What's next for the Giants after Todd Monken decision?

On Tuesday night, ESPN's Adam Schefter revealed that the Giants had put in a request to interview Denver Broncos passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach Davis Webb. Webb, 31, participated in interviews for head-coach openings during this hiring cycle and could be promoted to the role of Denver offensive coordinator after the Broncos parted ways with OC Joe Lombardi. 

Webb's feelings on possibly working for Harbaugh and the Giants are unknown. New York selected the former quarterback in the third round of the 2017 NFL Draft, and Webb made the only start of his career with the Giants in January 2023. 

"Webb’s current job is quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator under [Broncos head coach Sean Payton], who calls plays," Darryl Slater of NJ Advance Media for NJ.com mentioned on Wednesday. "With the Giants...Webb would have a chance to call plays."

In a different piece, Slater shared that "Monken heading to Cleveland instead of joining Harbaugh with the Giants is a clear blow to the new big whistle in East Rutherford, since he quite obviously wanted to continue working with Monken." Perhaps Harbaugh having to go with a younger option at OC will prove to be a positive for Dart.