Jim Schwartz breaks silence about career decision after Browns trade Myles Garrett to Rams

Shortly after the Cleveland Browns hired former Baltimore Ravens offensive coordinator Todd Monken to be their new head coach, Browns defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz resigned from his role. 

While it's no secret that the Browns wanted to retain Schwartz, who was under contract for the next two years, he seemingly was upset over the fact that he failed to win the team's head-coaching job. During a recent appearance on the "Ryan Ripken Show," Schwartz opened up about his offseason decision.

Why Jim Schwartz felt it was time to leave the Browns

"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, our best players had their best years, all those different things," Schwartz explained, per Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. "And that was the decision they made. They wanted to go with an offensive guy. They chose Todd. I’m fine with that. They can make, you know, 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 time to go."

The Browns finished the 2025 regular season ranked fourth in the NFL with an average of 283.6 total yards allowed per game under Schwartz. Additionally, he was quite a popular figure in the locker room, so much so that some have wondered if his departure caused star pass-rusher Myles Garrett to ask for a change of scenery. 

While the Browns traded Garrett to the Los Angeles Rams this week, there's no indication that the transaction had anything to do with Schwartz. Multiple reports and Browns general manager Andrew Berry revealed this week that Garrett did not request a trade after Schwartz stepped down.

Jim Schwartz: Forced marriage would have been bad for the Browns, Todd Monken

"Todd deserved his own guy," Schwartz continued. "A forced marriage isn’t gonna work in the NFL. And, you know, like having command of the players and having command in a locker room, all those things are extremely important, and I didn’t feel like I could do my job after getting passed over for that coaching job. It sort of, you know, just put me in a tough position. 'Hey, we want you to listen to this guy, but we didn’t think — we didn’t want to make him that coach.'"

Schwartz later admitted he was "disappointed" that he wasn't hired as Cleveland's new head coach. Browns ownership will ultimately feel that Monken was the right man for the job if he helps somebody become the franchise's long-term answer at quarterback at some point over the next handful of years.