How Todd Monken turned Deshaun Watson into a consistent QB for the first place Browns

The Kyle Shanahan-Sean McVay trees have blossomed with some well-known “offensive guru” NFL coaches.

That group obviously includes Shanahan and McVay themselves, and names like Matt LaFleur, Mike LaFleur, Kevin O’Connell, Liam Coen, Zac Taylor, Mike McDaniel and Klint Kubiak.

Todd Monken isn’t one of them, but the first-year Cleveland Browns coach should have the same accolades as that group after the latest and perhaps greatest masterpiece of his coaching career: leading the Deshaun Watson-quarterbacked Cleveland Browns to a 3-1 start and first place in the AFC North.

Monken’s wonders

Monken has popularized many glitter developments. As Oklahoma State’s offensive coordinator, he helped quarterback Brandon Weeden (22nd overall pick in the 2012 NFL Draft) and receiver Justin Blackmon (5th overall pick in the 2012 NFL Draft) power their squad to a 23-3 record as college football’s most electrifying passing tandem.

In 2018, Monken worked as the offensive coordinator of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Buccaneers went 5-11, but it wasn’t because of his offense — Tampa Bay’s defense gave up 29 points per game, second-most in the NFL that season. Monken put together the No. 12 league scoring offense (24.8 points per game) with the quarterback platoon of Jameis Winston and Ryan Fitzpatrick. Together, Monken has racked up a combined 5,125 yards passing and 36 touchdown passes between the two of them.

As the Georgia Bulldogs’ offensive coordinator from 2020 to 2022, he helped quarterback Stetson Bennett go from walk-on to two-time national championship-winning passer in the 2021 and 2022 seasons. Yes, those Bulldogs squads had an embarrassment of NFL first-round draft picks among their defensive players those years, but Bennett’s Monken-led offense put of the ninth most points in college football in 2021 (38.6 points per game) and the fifth most in 2022 (41.1 points per game).

Monken’s magic helped lift Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson to new heights. Jackson won the 2023 NFL MVP under Monken, but the highlight came the following year in 2024 when he earned first-team All-Pro honors despite finishing as the MVP runner-up to Josh Allen. Jackson completed the 2024 regular season with the following all-time production: 4,172 yards passing, a 41-4 passing-touchdown-to-interception ratio, 915 yards rushing and a 119.6 passer rating. That means Jackson finished the 2024 regular season with the following first, according to CBS Sports Research:

• 4,000 or more passing yards and 600 or more rushing yards
• 40 or more passing touchdowns and 800 or more rushing yards
• 40 or more passing touchdowns and fewer than five interceptions
• Reigning MVP with at least 40 or more passing touchdowns next season

Jackson’s 119.6 passer rating ranks fourth-most in a single season, trailing only three other players who have resulted in NFL MVP honors: Rodgers in 2011 (122.5) and 2020 (121.5) and Manning (121.1) in 2004.

Deshaun Watson’s career save was the best coaching performance

All of those feats of coaching brilliance are strong, but none as impressive as what Monken is doing as a first-time NFL head coach in Cleveland. The Browns are 3-1 and in sole possession of first place in the AFC North for the first time with Deshaun Watson as their quarterback.

The last time they were in first place in the division was on September 22, 2022, when Watson was still suspended by the NFL for his off-field legal issues. How miraculous was their 3-1 start this season? They’ve won three straight games, all as an underdog for the first time since 2001, according to CBS Sports Research, and Watson is now only the second Browns quarterback to have game-winning drives in three straight weeks since 1950. Only he and Brian Sipe in 1979 have done it as Cleveland quarterbacks in that span.

Watson enters the 2026 season a broken man, both on and off the football field. Watson sat out the entire 2021 season while dealing with the fallout from the contract/trade demand and being sued more than 20 times in civil court for sexual misconduct. Cleveland still traded a package of draft picks, highlighted by three first-round selections, and then extended him a five-year, $230 million deal that was fully guaranteed. Watson played just 19 games in his first four seasons in Cleveland due to a season-ending shoulder injury and two Achilles tears. In those 19 games, he profiled as statistically one of the worst passers in the NFL, ranking in the bottom five in the NFL in multiple efficiency statistics among the 50 quarterbacks who threw 500-plus passes from 2022 to 2025.

* Only Zach Wilson ranks worse than Watson among the 50 QBs with 500-plus passes from 2022 to 2025

So, how does Monken get Watson to play like a league-average starter at age 31 off two Achilles tears? He does a great job highlighting Watson’s strengths and teaching the hell out of his young, reformed supporting cast. Monken simplified Cleveland’s offense for Watson with a few key elements. No quarterback has a higher shotgun alignment rate than Watson’s 71.9% rate, and he capitalizes on the remaining mobility Watson still possesses, using run-pass option plays for his quarterback at the fourth-highest rate in the league, 11.8%.

In essence, Monken is drawing on his years as a collegiate offensive coordinator to create a simplified, college-style offense to get Watson back to basics as a quarterback. Pair that scheme with a completely revamped offensive line with five new full-time starters and a trio of young pass catchers — 2026 first-round pick wide receiver KC Concepcion, 2026 second-round pick Denzel Boston and 2025 third-round pick tight end Harold Fannin Jr. — helps, too, and Monken also deserves as much credit as his quarterback career for his successful football career. is on its last legs entering the season.

As three straight wins and a 3-1 overall record this season show, Monken’s game plan is working. Watson looks like a great NFL quarterback again, which is actually Monken’s greatest football magic trick.