Todd Young

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Todd Monken has been dealt a tough early hand with the Browns’ 2026 schedule, and must have his young offense ready to win on the road early.

The schedule, although it’s the easiest one in the NFL in terms of 2025 win-loss records of their opponents (.429), has to be one of the most challenging in terms of the early road slate, especially for a first-time head coach.

The Browns kick off the season with two straight road games — at Jacksonville Sept. 13 and Tampa Sept. 20 — and six of their first nine on the road, including three straight to close out that stretch.

That’s a tall task for any NFL head coach, let alone a rookie fielding likely the youngest offense in the NFL, and one of the youngest teams overall. The overhauled offense features a starting rookie left tackle in No. 9 pick Spencer Fano, possibly a rookie starting center in fifth-round Parker Brailsford, two possible starting receivers in KC Concepcion and Denzel Boston, and second-year key starters in running backs Quinshon Judkins, Dylan Sampson, tight end Harold Fannin Jr., and quarterback Shedeur Sanders if he wins the job over Deshaun Watson.

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Last season, the Browns went 2-6 on the road en route to their 5-12 record, which underscores the importance of winning in hostile environments.

The 2026 schedule is somewhat reminiscent of last season, when the Browns had five of seven on the road after the opener, including their “home” game in London against the Vikings, a 21-17 Browns loss. By the end of that stretch, the Browns were 2-6, and the season was over for all intents and purposes.

This season, Monken must have his fledging offense ready score from the outset, or the season could be over by the midpoint. After those back-to-back Florida games against the 13-4 Jaguars and Baker Mayfield’s Bucs, the Browns will visit the Jets in New York on Oct. 11, and close out the nine-game, road-heavy stretch with three straight road games at Tennessee, Pittsburgh and New Orleans.

What’s more, two of the three home games in that span are a Thursday Night Football game against the Steelers on Oct. 1, and a visit from the Ravens Oct. 18.

Granted, the Browns are 10-2 all-time at home on Thursday night, including four victories over the Steelers in that span, and have won their last seven appearances on Thursday night. But the Steelers are always a tough out, whether at home or on the road.

As for the Ravens game, it marks Monken’s first clash with his former pupil Lamar Jackson after serving as his offensive coordinator the past three seasons.

The unfavorable first-half schedule means that Monken will have to work his offensive magic to pull together a young unit that will be learning a new scheme, new terminology, and each other’s names or risk being out of contention in early November.

He’s already noted that the learning curve will be steep, and that grasp of the scheme will be paramount. Fortunately for him, he has a championship-caliber defense to help carry the team while the offense comes together.

Of course, Monken will choose his starting quarterback based on who gives him the best chance to win, with Watson and Sanders vying for the starting job, and Dillon Gabriel and Taylen Green likely battling for the third developmental spot. He hopes to have his QB depth chart set coming out of mandatory minicamp June 11, although he’ll pivot if necessary. The Browns will likely keep three QBs on the 53, and possibly another one on the practice squad.

If Monken opts for Watson and his nine years’ experience over Sanders’ seven starts as a rookie in 2025, he might have a couple of things working in his favor in those back-to-back Florida games to start the season. Watson is 7-0 all-time vs. the Jaguars, including his lone victory of seven starts in 2024, an 18-13 win on the road. He’s also never lost in Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium, either while at Clemson or in the pros.

The ability to lead this young offense will be a key criteria in Monken’s decision, with the quarterback charged with helping players get lined up correctly, sliding the protections, managing the motions and all of the other pre-snap responsibilities. With a rookie left tackle and possible rookie center, the quarterback will have to overcome inevitable growing pains in protection.

What’s more, the offensive line will likely have five new starters overall, and will take some time to jell. The Browns hope to have Judkins back from his dislocated ankle and broken fibula by the start of the season, but it remains to be seen if he’ll be ready for full workloads from the start.

Rookie receivers Concepcion and Boston had excellent rookie minicamps and should be ready to start or play a lot early on, but they’re also fresh out of college and will need some time to learn the pro game. It will be tough to master the new scheme with all of the crowd noise and silent counts in the first half of the season.

Of course, the road-centric first half of the schedule means a home-heavy second half, which will be great for the Browns if they can remain relevant until then. It features a four-game stretch in November with visits from the Texans, Raiders, Bengals and Falcons, and a Week 11 bye mixed in.

But just when the Browns are getting used to the comfy confines of Huntington Bank Field, they’ll close out their streaky schedule with three of four on the road, including games at the Giants, and at division rivals Baltimore and Cincinnati.

By then, if Monken works his players hard enough in the offseason program and training camp, they just might be road warriors.

In the first half, they’ll have to be, or Monken’s first season will be over soon after it begins.

Cleveland Browns preseason schedule 2026

Date TBD: at Chicago Bears, Time TBD, TV TBD

Saturday, Aug. 22: vs. Buffalo Bills, 1 p.m., Channel 5

Thursday, Aug. 27: vs. New England Patriots, 8 p.m., Amazon Prime

Cleveland Browns 2026 regular season schedule