As recently reported, the Browns’ battle for the starting quarterback job was not settled within the spring. While latest head coach Todd Monken had hoped to see one in all veteran Deshaun Watson or second-year Shedeur Sanders stand out and claim a starting role early, the battle will proceed into training camp and the preseason.
In keeping with Zac Jackson of The Athletic, Monken’s ultimate determination for who will start is “whoever gives (the Browns) the most effective likelihood to attain, and (he) won’t know that until (they) play.” The strategy of determining play ability will begin in the summertime, when practice intensity will pick up and each passers will get to experience way more realistic pass rush looks. If neither passer can establish himself as QB1 through camp, scheduled joint practices against the Bills will probably be one other key evaluation point, then preseason game after that.
The last update we saw on this race two days ago suggested that Sanders had gained ground on Watson, who had come into the offseason as the favourite to win the job but has still not officially done so. The undeniable fact that Watson has not easily outplayed Sanders up to now must be concerning for the veteran. He was the favourite because we’ve seen him lead the NFL in passing yards and play at a Pro Bowl level when healthy. If his play ability cannot clearly put him over Sanders on the depth chart, though, the situation doesn’t favor him.
Cleveland made it fairly clear leading as much as the draft that chasing Ty Simpson within the 2026 NFL Draft was not going to be their strategy to handle the long run of the quarterbacks room, so that they arranged to position themselves in addition to they might to land a top-ranked passer in 2027’s draft. Watson is playing on the ultimate 12 months of what has been a disastrous contract. Unless he begins to play MVP-level football this 12 months, the Browns are expected to maneuver on with someone younger next 12 months.
To that time, Sanders still has two years remaining on his rookie contract after this 12 months, and his game holds a bit more unknown potential. If the staff will not be quite sure which passer is the higher player, the situation points to Sanders getting the nod. This might allow the franchise to see if he has the tools to hold the offense moving forward. If Sanders shows major improvements from his rookie 12 months and establishes himself because the team’s best choice moving forward, the Browns can forego their pursuit of a 2027 arm and utilize that draft capital to construct around Sanders. If he fails to indicate much progress, the Browns will likely follow their plan of finding someone latest next 12 months.
Regardless of the answer could also be, it behooves the franchise to work out what Sanders’ potential is. So if Watson isn’t clearly the higher option to steer the Browns offense in 2026, it makes essentially the most sense to start out Sanders in quest of that answer. Starting a lame-duck veteran provides little profit to the franchise, so if Watson desires to play in 2026, he needs to depart little doubt in what’s left of the team’s QB competition. Per Jackson, Watson appears to finally be healthy and has thrown downfield with confidence, but he has “lacked consistency” and thrown into traffic too often. Jackson added that Sanders has seemed “more confident and accurate.”
Over his rookie contract in Houston, Watson’s completion percentage hovered around 67-70 percent as he averaged around 250 yards per game (301.4 ypg in 2020). In 19 games with the Browns, he’s accomplished 61.2 percent of his passes while averaging about 177.1 yards per game. He may not ever reach his Houston form again, but he’ll have to move in that direction so as to win the starting job and set himself up for anything beyond this 12 months.