After six months filled with trade rumors, roster changes, and a new head coach, the Cleveland Browns’ quarterback situation has stayed deliberately quiet. Andrew Berry broke that quiet on Wednesday in the most encouraging way possible.
The Browns general manager appeared on The Schrager Hour and offered his most detailed public assessment of the QB competition between Shedeur Sanders and Deshaun Watson, crediting both players while making clear that the progress has been real.
Browns QB Shedeur Sanders Ticketed for 41 MPH Over Speeding (Video) (Imagn Images)
“In terms of quarterback, it’s been good competition this spring between Shedeur Sanders and Deshaun Watson,” Berry said. “It’s good to see Deshaun healthy, moving around, learning this new system. He’s had a really strong spring. Shedeur, he’s made incredible strides over the last eight weeks. Really, really pleased with his progress. He’s naturally accurate as a quarterback. His command of the operation, control of the huddle, all of those things. You can tell that with a year under his belt, he’s making those strides.”
Watson has not played meaningful football since sustaining an Achilles injury in October 2024, missing the remainder of that year and 2025 in its entirety. His return to the practice field under new head coach Todd Monken has been a source of quiet optimism inside the building for weeks.
What Berry’s praise of Sanders suggests about where the competition is actually heading
The language around Sanders was more pointed. “Incredible strides” and “naturally accurate” from a general manager who rarely speaks in superlatives is the kind of assessment that gets noticed in Cleveland.
Sanders went 3-4 in seven starts as a rookie in 2025, threw seven touchdowns against 10 interceptions, and worked within one of the NFL’s least functional offensive environments.
Monken, who oversaw one of the most efficient offenses in the league during his time as Baltimore’s OC, gives Sanders a legitimate framework for the first time. Berry’s comment about “command of the operation” matters specifically because that was the area of Sanders’ game that came under the most scrutiny as a rookie.
Watson is 30 years old and under contract, which keeps the competition genuine. Berry made no indication that either player had separated himself.
Training camp in late July will resolve what the spring left open. The bar Berry set for Sanders Wednesday, though, was higher than anything the organization had said publicly about him before.