Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders if facing an uncertain future.
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Shedeur Sanders may have to wait much longer than another bad Sunday to get his shot with the Cleveland Browns.
Despite Cleveland’s ugly season opener, Deshaun Watson appears positioned to get an extended opportunity to work through his struggles. That could leave Sanders on the sideline well into the season, even if the offense continues to sputter.
Watson could remain the starter at least through October, according to Ralph Vacchiano of FOX Sports, whose conversations at Browns training camp pointed to considerable patience from first-year coach Todd Monken.
“Quarterback Deshaun Watson wasn’t terrible in his return to action, even though the Browns were. Even if he had flopped, he wasn’t in much danger of losing his job. On my visit to Browns training camp, multiple people told me first-year coach Todd Monken planned to give Watson a long leash early in the season,” Vacchiano said. “So expect him to remain the starter at least through October — for better or, more likely, for worse.”
It would be a frustrating development for Sanders, who lost the starting competition and needs time on the field to make his case as Cleveland’s long-term answer.
Todd Monken Sticking With Deshaun Watson After Rough Opener
Monken has already passed on his first opportunity to make a change. After declining to address his Week 2 quarterback plans immediately following the loss, Monken said Monday that he anticipates Watson starting against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Reviewing the film gave him enough reason to stay with the veteran.
“We got to play better around him,” Monken said Monday. “We got to call it better, and he’s got to play better. It wasn’t just our inability to function consistently as an offense; it was a byproduct of ‘we’ – coaching and playing.”
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Watson finished the 34-10 loss to Jacksonville with 205 passing yards, one touchdown and one interception. But those numbers were helped considerably by a fourth quarter that began with Cleveland trailing 34-3. Through three quarters, he had thrown for just 100 yards.
“It’s only been two weeks he’s gotten all the reps, and there were some really good things on film, some things that you can build on, and there were some others that operationally, we’ve got to get better at,” Monken said. “There’s only so many looks you get from week to week, be it red zone concepts, third down concepts, and I did think that when he had time, when he understood the concepts, he didn’t play tentative, that he let it rip.”
The Browns had problems beyond the quarterback position. Their offense struggled to get organized, and the defense did little to keep the game competitive.
Shedeur Sanders Still Has a Path to Browns Starting Job
Cleveland Browns v Jacksonville Jaguars
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Shedeur Sanders of the Cleveland Browns and Deshaun Watson take the the field for warmups prior to the game against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Watson’s apparent cushion does not mean Sanders is out of the picture this season. The Browns “widely viewed” Watson as their best option internally, according to Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated. But starting with Watson also gave Monken a more manageable route to a change if the offense failed to respond.
“Monken stuck to his guns, went with Watson (widely seen internally as the best option), and did it knowing that it’d be much easier to pull the plug on him and go to Sanders than to do the opposite. And he did leave open the possibility that a change would come in-season, with a set of interesting Sundays situated early on into Cleveland’s football season,” Breer wrote.
There is an immediate test in Tampa Bay against Baker Mayfield, the quarterback Cleveland moved on from to pursue Watson. Another loss would send the Browns home at 0-2 for their Sept. 27 matchup with the Carolina Panthers.
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J.R. DeGroote Browns beat writer for Heavy.com. Covering the NFL and NBA since 2019. ASU Cronkite grad. More about J.R. DeGroote
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