The story of the Cleveland Browns‘ 2026 offseason has pretty much been set. This is a team that completely overhauled its offensive line, and figures to have five new starters in place in Week 1. It’s also a team that remade the wide-receiver room, by using two of its first three draft picks on highly touted players KC Concepcion and Denzel Boston. They added depth all over the offense and tinkered with the depth on a defense that ranked No.2 overall in the NFL by the folks at Pro Football Focus. And it’s a team that did little to add to the Deshaun Watson vs. Shedeur Sanders quarterback battle.
With a schedule rated as the easiest in the league, the Browns’ path to a competitive 2026 season has been compared to that of the New England Patriots in 2025, as they rode a revamped roster, an easy slate and some playoff luck all the way to the Super Bowl.
Ah, but there is one key difference between the Browns and the Patriots: New England has Drake Maye and the Browns have … Watson and Sanders.
Shedeur Sanders vs. Deshaun Watson Begins This Week
At this point, it is still a mystery which of the two will start, though there is obviously a brief from the Browns offices in Barea to let it be known that Watson is the leader under new coach Todd Monken. That doesn’t mean that Watson will win the job, but it does mean that Sanders could have a limited window to catch up and be named QB1.
OTAs start on Tuesday, and will come in three-days chunks over the next three weeks (the final OTA is four days), and that’s where this battle will be won, ESPN Cleveland insider Tony Grossi says.
The Browns’ first mandatory minicamp is scheduled for June 9-11, and we can expect Monken to have his pick by then–at least his training camp pick.
Said Grossi: “I think it is still a little bit early. I think by the time we get to minicamp in June, we’ll have a good idea of who his 1,2,3, and 4 are, at least heading into training camp. I wouldn’t expect that on Tuesday or Wednesday, but it is coming, it is coming. They’ve been out there working and he said he wants to have an idea who is No. 1 is by training camp and I am sure he will abide by that.”
Browns Leaning to Veteran?
Increasingly, it does look as though the Browns favor giving Watson one last look as the starter in 2026, which is presumed to be his final season after the disastrous 2022 trade that brought him to Cleveland from the Texans, along with a five-year, $230 million extension that was fully guaranteed.
Sanders finished last year as the starter, going 3-4 to close the season and putting up some relatively ugly numbers in doing so (seven touchdowns, 10 interceptions). But at 24 years old, Sanders would seem to have the brighter future, where Watson is coming off two Achilles tendon surgeries.
Still, according to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, Watson and Monken have established a rapport. Said Fowler: “He’s been a factor already on the practice field. I’m told he’s hit it off with Todd Monken, who’s got an offensive concept, some elements that Watson has run in the past and been his best at. …Talking to people around the league, they believe that Watson could eventually earn this job.”
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