CLEVELAND, Ohio — The day that Myles Garrett and Carson Schwesinger accepted their awards as NFL Defensive Player of the Year and NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year, their defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz handed in his resignation letter and walked away from them.

The Browns hoped they could talk their three-year coordinator Jim Schwartz into coming back after being passed over for the head coaching job in favor of Todd Monken, but it wasn’t to be. Not even the raise they offered was enough to bring him back, a source said.

They announced on Friday that Schwartz, 59, resigned with two years left on his lucrative contract, with the second year being a club option. The Browns retain his rights, and at this point, have no plans to let him out of his contract. It means he’ll have to sit out these two years unless the two sides reach some kind of resolution. A coordinator can’t be traded per NFL rules, league spokesman Brian McCarthy confirmed for cleveland.com.

“(Thursday), Jim Schwartz submitted his letter of resignation as defensive coordinator of the Cleveland Browns,” the Browns said in a statement. “We’d like to thank Jim for his contributions to our organization over the last three seasons. Our search for a new defensive coordinator will begin immediately.”

During his introductory press conference on Tuesday, Monken said that the Browns will run the same attacking 4-3 scheme, and that he plans to keep most of the defensive staff intact. Some of the assistants, including safeties coach Ephraim Banda, linebackers coach Jason Tarver and possibly defensive line coach Jacques Cesaire will likely get interviews for the job, a league source tells cleveland.com. The Browns must also interview two diverse candidates to satisfy the Rooney before making their hire.

Tarver was defensive coordinator of the Raiders from 2012-14, and Banda interviewed for coordinator vacancies with the Cowboys and Jets in this cycle. He was also believed to be a candidate to be promoted to the role if Schwartz got the head coaching gig, a league source told cleveland.com.

Texans defensive pass game coordinator Cory Undlin, 54, who was in Cleveland from 2005-08 under Romeo Crennel, is also on Monken’s radar for the job, according to Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated. Undlin worked with Monken in Jacksonville as a defensive assistant and defensive backs coach in 2009-10. Texans’ defensive backs coach Dino Vasso is another possible candidate.

Schwartz, who reportedly packed up his office and left CrossCountry Mortgage Campus in Berea angry the day Monken was hired over him on Jan. 28, came back to team headquarters on Monday to talk to Monken, but they reached no meeting of the minds.

The writing was on the wall during Monken’s introductory press conference on Tuesday, when he made it clear that he “didn’t take this job because of Jim Schwartz.”

“First off, my anticipation is we’re not going to change the system,” Monken said that day. “Very difficult to go against. We’re built for the system that they’re in currently, and … they can rest assured that we’re going to keep the same system, we’re still going to let them attack, we’re still going to let them play free. I can’t see any other way. They’re a big reason why I took this job, the defensive players.”

He went on to deliver the quote heard ‘round the NFL about his premier coordinator.

“I didn’t take this job because of Jim Schwartz,” he said. “I have a lot of respect for Jim Schwartz as I would hope he has for me. But I took it because of the players that are here, the ownership, (GM) Andrew Berry, and the ability to build this from the ground up on the offensive side.

“And I said this to the other guys, I didn’t think I’d say it, but I’m going to say it: when I was preparing for the Cleveland Browns, I wasn’t trying to chip Jim Schwartz. I was chipping Myles Garrett and when I was sliding the protection to the outside ‘backers or Grant Delpit blitzing off the edge, I was sliding the protection to the players, and when I was worried about throwing to the right against Denzel Ward or Tyson Campbell to the left, that’s who I was worried about throwing at.”

Schwartz resigned the same day that his two defenders earned their prestigious awards, Myles Garrett winning AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year honors for the second time under Schwartz, and Schwesinger, the Browns No. 33 overall pick out of UCLA winning AP Defensive Rookie of the Year honors.

For Garrett, he became just the second defender in NFL history to win it unanimously after J.J. Watt in 2014.

Garrett, who also set the NFL sack record in 2025 with 23, was among the defenders who endorsed Schwartz for head coach, emphatically stating that they didn’t want him to leave.

The day Monken was hired and Schwartz left the building, Garrett posted a photo on his Instagram story of a fast food worker sitting on a bench and hanging her head. The photo wasn’t captioned, but seemed a clear message of his dismay over Schwartz’ departure.

On Tuesday, Browns owner Jimmy Haslam, who called on Garrett to be even more of a team leader in 2025 in the wake of his trade demand and subsequent $40 million a year extension, said he wasn’t worried about Garrett’s reaction.

“Listen, I love Myles, OK?” Haslam said after coach Todd Monken’s introductory press conference on Tuesday. “I haven’t talked to him since the day after the season, but I’m highly confident Myles will come in here and break the sack record again and be the Defensive Player (of the Year). He hasn’t been named it (yet), but I’ll be shocked if he isn’t and will be a leader of our team.”

Browns GM Andrew Berry was also confident Garrett would carry on as the leader of the defense.

“We kept Myles abreast of the process throughout,” he said. “Obviously he knew the news before you all did. Myles is a great team player and I’m not really worried about that.”

After accepting his award on Thursday night, Garrett sounded like a player ready to come back and build on his historic season.

“If we stay healthy, we can be the best defense unanimously as well,” Garrett said. “It’s family.”

He assured Browns fans that better days are ahead for the 5-12 team, despite knowing that his beloved defensive coordinator probably wasn’t coming back.

“It’s only (great) things that are coming next,” Garrett said. “I expect nothing but excellence coming forward and I’m grateful for every second I get with this team.”

Schwartz, the former head coach of the Lions from 2009-13, was one of three finalists to replace Kevin Stefanski, including Monken, 60, and Rams passing coordinator Nate Scheelhaase, 35.

He had an excellent chance to get the job, but the Browns opted for the candidate who presented the best plan to fix their beleaguered and points-starved offense.

The AP Assistant Coach of the Year in his first season with the Browns in 2023, Schwartz was one of 10 candidates the Browns interviewed for the job, and was one of four to do a second interview in person, including Monken, Jaguars offensive coordinator Grant Udinski, and Scheelhaase.

The Tuesday before the Browns announced the hiring of Monken, they circled back with their three finalists one last time to clarify some things in Monken, Schwartz and Scheelhaase, a source told cleveland.com. Of the three, only Schwartz was face-to-face because he was still working at the Browns facility. The other two candidates were virtual.

Schwartz, who also interviewed for the Ravens head coach job this cycle, really wanted the job, and dressed the part for the third interview, hoping the Browns would make him an offer. The job meant a lot to Schwartz, in part, because he got his start in the NFL here in 1993 under Bill Belichick as a scouting intern. He came very close, but the Browns skewed towards offense to revive a unit that finished last and second-last in points-scored over the past two seasons.

Monken’s offensive staffing plan also included commitments from many of his trusted offensive assistants with the Ravens, where they ran an explosive offense together over the past three seasons.

Schwartz, who presided over a defense that finished No. 4 in total yards this season and No. 1 in 2023, became upset and told some staffers he wouldn’t be coming back.

Monken was always open to keeping Schwartz on as defensive coordinator, but the Browns hired him knowing Schwartz might leave. They were also prepared to let Schwartz walk if they had hired former Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter, who was on his way to becoming a a head coach finalist here until he withdrew before his second interview to take the Ravens head coach gig.

The Browns hoped that cooler heads would prevail, and that Schwartz would return to his post rather than sit out the next two years, after which he’ll be 61.

His departure will undoubtedly rattle his players, who loved playing for him and had some of their best career seasons under him. Schwesinger, making his rounds on Media Row at the Super Bowl on Friday, appreciates what Schwartz did for him.

“This whole year playing for him was pretty special,” he told the Ross Tucker Podcast. “I think he’s one of the great minds on defense and he’s well-respected around the league and obviously I respect whatever decision he makes. But I’m not going to take the year I had to play for him for granted. I learned so much from him and the confidence and belief he had in me from the start made the job a whole lot easier that I was asked to do.”

Five-time Pro Bowl cornerback Denzel Ward told cleveland.com on Monday that he hoped Schwartz would decide to stay.

“That’s what I’m hoping,” he said. “That’s who I want to stay. I want coach Schwartz to be my defensive coordinator, and if we can make that happen, I’ll be happy.”

Now, it’s time for one of the most formidable defenses in the NFL to regroup without its leader.

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