The Browns still don’t have a starting quarterback in place between Deshaun Watson and Shedeur Sanders. They’re just too good, apparently. While HC Todd Monken previously said he’d like to have a starter in place by now, he exits the spring content without having an answer yet. And he insists that’s because he has seen enough from both that either would be a good option.
“I don’t see it that way,” Monken told reporters when asked if it is a negative that the Browns don’t have a starting quarterback in place yet. “It would be if I didn’t think either one of them were capable of starting. It would feel different if I didn’t feel like their progression hadn’t gotten to this point where I think they both can start and play winning football. I’m convinced of it. And I’d say it if I didn’t. I mean, I can’t decide now because I think both have earned the opportunity to continue to compete once we put the pads on.”
The Browns drafted two quarterbacks last year, including Shedeur Sanders in the fifth round. Their third-round pick, Dillon Gabriel, isn’t even in the starting conversation as a gratuity anymore. The other contender is, of course, Deshaun Watson, who was actually good once upon a time. Amid injuries, alleged sexual predation, and the passage of time, however, he has been—less good. Or “staggeringly terrible”, as one analyst put it the last time he played.
Watson was the Browns’ starting quarterback, when healthy, up to his Achilles injury midway through the 2024 season. He spent the entire 2025 season sidelined while still recovering but is now healthy. By all accounts, many of them public, he still has the full support of the organization. The Browns have to pay him whether they support him or not, so they might as well, I suppose.
As the Browns’ starting quarterback from 2022 to 2024, Deshaun Watson has a 9-10 record. He has gone 341-for-557 passing for 3,365 yards with 19 touchdowns to 12 interceptions. He has also taken a sack on over 11 percent of his dropbacks and has fumbled five times.
Shedeur Sanders closed out his rookie season as the Browns’ starting quarterback, finishing 3-4. On the season, he went 120-for-212 for 1,400 yards with 7 touchdowns to 10 interceptions. In one of the most amusing injustices in Pro Bowl history, he somehow wound up in the game. I assume every other quarterback in the AFC declined.
“I don’t care,” Monken said when asked if he thinks about the “face of the franchise” when deciding the Browns’ starting quarterback position. “Whoever gives us the best chance to score, and I won’t know that till we play. We take all the information in the offseason and then training camp and then the preseason game of practice and then let it rip.”
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