Browns find new swagger under bold coach Todd Monken

BrownsCleveland Browns find swagger with Todd Monken's bold leadershipBy Orange and Brown Talk Podcast, cleveland.comCLEVELAND, Ohio — Something has shifted in Cleveland’s locker room. It’s not just that the Browns are 3-1. It’s the way they’re doing it — louder, bolder and with a swagger that feels genuinely new.That’s been the takeaway from Orange and Brown Talk host Dan Labbe and Browns beat reporters Mary Kay Cabot and Ashley Bastock, who have been tracking a cultural transformation that goes well beyond wins and losses. According to the reporters, the personality change starts at the top with head coach Todd Monken, and it flows all the way down to the guys in the trenches.“You replaced Kevin Stefanski with Todd Monken,” Cabot said. “Those two guys could not be more opposite. Just in terms of personality and showing emotion and giving you something that you can use and wearing your emotions on your sleeve. And I always say that Todd coaches hard, he hugs hard, laughs hard, yells hard, screams hard. That’s why his voice is always hoarse and he just lives out loud.”The Browns’ defensive line keeps getting tested. It keeps answeringThe Browns’ win over the Steelers kept alive 6 remarkable streaks you need to know aboutBrowns now tied with the Ravens for 1st place in the AFC North at 3-1; Lamar Jackson suffers ankle injury That energy hasn’t stayed on the sideline. It’s been absorbed by a roster full of young players who seem to feed off it — none more visibly than edge rusher Jared Verse and linebacker Quincy Williams.Labbe noted that even after big wins, former Browns star Myles Garrett tended to be measured and controlled. The new model is something else entirely.“It wasn’t the same as Jared Verse standing at his locker, calling out the Steelers and saying he can’t wait to play them again and saying he wants this team to be a team that people need to shut up and just ... it’s like a wrestling heel almost. Like he really just takes on this persona.”Defensive coordinator Mike Rutenberg has set the tone on that side of the ball with a style that Cabot described as having “almost a college-y vibe to him, just in terms of his fire and his zeal and his sayings.” Mottos like “arrive with violence” and “the ball is oxygen” have become rallying cries for a unit that plays with collective purpose.Bastock pointed out that the Rutenberg-Williams connection runs deep. Rutenberg coached Williams with the Jets, making him the kind of “coordinator’s guy” who doesn’t just understand the scheme — he embodies the attitude.“When you have a coordinator that’s as animated as Mike Rutenberg and you have a guy like Quincy Williams and then you add in a Jared Verse into this mix, who people look at as one of the best young edge rushers in the league, and he also sort of has that same similar swagger,” Bastock said. “I think it just all blends together really nicely.”The real test will come over the next several weeks as the Browns hit a brutal stretch of road games. Cabot was direct about the challenge: winning changes everything, and a losing streak could make this culture conversation feel premature very quickly.But the reporters also agreed on something important. The bones are real. This team knows how to close games, believes in its kicker and has players willing to speak their minds and back it up on the field. Whether it holds under pressure is the next chapter.This article was produced with assistance from AI tools and reviewed by Cleveland.com staff.