The 2026 regular season remains to be four-plus months from kicking off, but first-year Browns head coach Todd Monken desires to discover his starting quarterback by the tip of the team’s June September 11 minicamp, Mary Kay Cabot of cleveland.com reports. Monken still has several weeks to make his alternative, but Deshaun Watson currently has the “edge” over Shedeur Sanders, in accordance with Cabot.
This comes as a surprise after Sanders seemed to be the frontrunner three weeks ago. As a fifth-round pick last yr, Sanders finished his rookie season because the Browns’ starter. Despite posting poor numbers, Sanders earned a Pro Bowl invite as an alternate. Meanwhile, Watson has not taken the sector since he ruptured his Achilles on Oct. 20, 2024. The three-time Pro Bowler ruptured it again in January 2025, forcing him to miss all of last season.
The Browns made perhaps the worst trade in league history after they sent 4 picks (three first-rounders and a third-rounder) to the Texans for Watson in March 2022. They immediately handed Watson a completely guaranteed $230MM over five years, which has gone down as one other disastrous decision.
While facing widespread sexual misconduct allegations, Watson opened his Browns tenure serving an 11-game suspension for violating the league’s personal conduct policy. Injuries have held him to simply 19 starts since then. The Browns have gone 9-10 with Watson on the helm. To worsen matters, they’ve been forced to repeatedly restructure his bloated contract. They did so for the fourth time last month.
Although Watson’s deal will finally expire after this season, the Browns will still spread an $86.2MM dead money charge from 2027-28. Owner Jimmy Haslam, who has paid a cripplingly expensive price for nearly no production from Watson, admitted last April that acquiring him was a “big swing and miss.” Over a yr later, though, the Haslams (Jimmy and wife Dee) are making a behind-the-scenes push for Watson to begin, Jason La Canfora of SportsBoom relays.
“Jimmy Haslam has paid this guy $180MM and he’s got nothing to indicate for it,” one general manager told La Canfora. “He’s attempting to get blood from a stone but it surely’s not going to work. Watson is finished.”
If Watson proves to be “done,” it could eventually result in opportunities for Sanders and/or the remaining of the Browns’ signal-callers. Dillon Gabriel and 2026 sixth-rounder Taylen Green are also within the team’s QBs room, but it surely doesn’t appear they’re under serious consideration for the starting gig. Moderately, they’re vying for a “developmental spot,” Cabot writes. It’s more likely Gabriel and Green will receive third- and fourth-team work, leaving Watson and Sanders to divide the starting reps.
Monken has left the door open for Green, a 6-foot-6, 235-pound dual threat, to take the sector in specialty packages (via Cabot). If the previous Boise State and Arkansas starter impresses enough to earn a roster spot, Gabriel might be on his way out only a yr after the Browns spent a third-rounder on him. The Browns could have trouble getting Gabriel on their practice squad, notes Cabot, who points to a trade as a possibility.
Gabriel made six underwhelming starts for the Browns after they traded Joe Flacco to the Bengals last October. He lost the job to Sanders after suffering a concussion in a Week 11 loss to the Ravens. Depending on how the subsequent few months unfold, that will prove to be Gabriel’s last meaningful appearance with the Browns.