Browns prevailed in John Harbaugh's attempt to persuade Todd Monken

Before the Cleveland Browns hired Todd Monken as their new head coach, he was being strongly courted to rejoin John Harbaugh with the New York Giants.

In fact, Harbaugh himself told the media that he went as far as to try to persuade Monken not to take the lead job in Cleveland. Harbaugh, who is still looking to hire his Monken replacement in the Big Apple, had this to say about Monken's courtship and subsequent hiring in Cleveland:

"I tried to talk him out of it... That’s my job, right? I really thought he was coming with us, but Cleveland was in there all along, and he had been there before in 2019 as the offensive coordinator, so they knew him, and he wanted this opportunity. He got it, and I’m happy for him. I’m really kind of proud of him, but we’ve got to go to work."

Instead, Monken has spent his time picking apart Harbaugh's Baltimore staff and bringing them to Cleveland. Monken has a ton of familiarity with the offensive minds he worked with in Baltimore, and they were likely hired by Monken when he was brought on as the offensive coordinator in 2023.

This makes Harbaugh's job a bit tougher as he may now have to navigate the terrain of hiring an offensive-minded coach with whom he lacks familiarity to take over as the offensive coordinator with the Giants. Harbaugh tried, but failed, to get Monken to remove his name from consideration in Cleveland.

This article originally appeared on Browns Wire: Browns prevailed in John Harbaugh's attempt to persuade Todd Monken