The Opening Drive 4/9: Everything Noteworthy from Berea Yesterday
The Browns are back in the building and getting after it early in the off-season program.
When Todd Monken addressed his team for the first time on the opening day of the voluntary offseason program, he didn’t reach for inspiration. He kept it stripped down: “We’re in the development business and the winning business, point blank, period.”
That framing matters more than it sounds. Monken is deliberately defining his staff’s role in functional terms — coaches exist to maximize players, not manage them. He said the organization’s job is to put together a program that makes players want to be there — from a development standpoint, a connection standpoint, and a schematic standpoint — offering them something they couldn’t get anywhere else. That’s an implicit critique of the previous culture in Berea, where the organization’s dysfunction often made the facility a place players endured rather than sought out.
The structural approach also reflects how Monken learned the craft. He drew directly from his time under John Harbaugh, applying lessons about how to use every permitted window in the offseason calendar to drive genuine development — not just compliance with the program.
The Quarterback Evaluation Framework
The most analytically interesting thing Monken said Wednesday wasn’t about any individual quarterback. It was about how he intends to structure the competition itself.
Monken explained that the offseason program is sequenced deliberately: Phase 1 is about gauging where each quarterback is mentally and physically. Phase 2 introduces on-field individual work. By Phase 3 and into minicamps, the evaluation becomes comparative. His stated goal coming out of spring is to have “an early version of a depth chart” — while making clear that doesn’t end competition.
On rep distribution, Monken was consistent with what he said at the league meetings: “I’m not ready to say that yet. I just said the reps can’t be divided evenly. There’s no chance. At least on a daily basis.” The word “daily” is the key. This isn’t a static pecking order — it’s a fluid, performance-driven system where reps are a diagnostic tool, not a reward.
When asked directly if anyone has the edge, Monken deflected: “No, not really, because there’s enough there of all three. There’s enough there to really like Deshaun and the way he plays. There’s enough there to really like the way Shedeur played at the back end of the year. And there’s enough early in the year from Dillon that is playing the position at a very high level.”
Take that answer seriously, but not entirely at face value. Monken is coaching a competition — he has every incentive to keep all three players engaged and motivated through the spring. What will reveal the truth is which quarterback consistently runs with the first unit once OTAs begin in May.
The early read from Monken on Day 1 was encouraging: “You couldn’t ask for a better start for the quarterbacks. I was fired up.” But it’s April. The standard for “fired up” in Phase 1 is a low bar. The real signal will come when live reps start and Monken’s daily adjustments to the depth chart become visible.
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Myles Garrett was not at voluntary workouts Wednesday, and the explanation is financial rather than relational. Garrett is expected to skip at least some voluntary sessions after he and the club restructured when option bonuses on his contract are paid out.
Monken managed the question carefully: “It is our job to make it to where the guys want to be here — not just by the job, but by the development, the camaraderie, being part of a team... Myles will be ready. I’m not worried about Myles.”
His public stance — projecting confidence that Garrett is a Brown and will be ready — is the correct posture for a first-year head coach who needs his best defensive player bought in. Whether there’s a harder conversation happening privately is a different question entirely.
Three things will tell us far more than any April press conference:
First, who is running with the first-team offense when OTAs begin in late May. Monken’s “fluid” rep structure gives him cover now, but the first-unit assignments will reveal his actual thinking.
Second, whether Garrett shows up for the voluntary veteran minicamp scheduled for April 21-23. That’s the earliest meaningful data point on how aligned he and the new staff actually are.
Third, what the Browns do in the draft on April 24-26. Andrew Berry has acknowledged he could add “a younger player” to the quarterback room during the 2026 NFL Draft — which would reshape the competition structure before OTAs even start.
The tone in Berea on Day 2 was businesslike and calm. That’s a start. The substance of this offseason will be determined by decisions made over the next six weeks.
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