Though there has been much conversation about the Cleveland Browns‘ quarterback race between Shedeur Sanders and Deshaun Watson throughout the team’s offseason, the fact is, it has mostly gone as anyone might expect a position competition to go. Watson has gotten time with the first team. Sanders has gotten time with the first team. Standard stuff.
Until Saturday, that is. That was the first time that coach Todd Monken deviated from the script and, in a bizarre twist, he deviated from the script he laid out on Saturday afternoon.
Asked in the afternoon about the plan for practice, Monken said it was going to be Sanders’ day: “Might end up with a seven-on-seven, might end up where Deshaun (Watson) gets one of those, that’s what we’ve been doing, but Shedeur will take the majority of the one reps today.”
Except it wasn’t–reporters on site noted that it was, in fact, Watson working with the ones throughout the day as Sanders was bumped to the twos. In fact, he split time with Dillon Gabriel there.
Deshaun Watson Knew He’d Be Taking Browns 1st-Team Reps
Monken did not speak to reporters after practice, and Sunday is an off day for the Browns, so there is no explanation from the coach about why his decisions came down the way they did. The situation got more complicated when Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com reported a twist in the timeline: Monken, or someone on the staff, had already told Watson he would be with the ones before he told the media it would be Sanders’ day.
Cabot wrote: “As it turns out, Watson knew right after the walk-through at about noon that he was going with the ones on Saturday, a source told cleveland.com — which was about 45 minutes before Monken told the media that Sanders was still the Day 10 QB1. Why didn’t Monken tell the media that Watson was working with the ones? It’s a mystery.”
Shedeur Sanders Fighting Off Deshaun Watson … and Dillon Gabriel?
Further reports from Browns camp noted that Sanders and Gabriel were splitting time behind Watson, which would indicate that maybe Sanders has not only been demoted from pursuing the starting job, he is now fighting just to remain the backup to Watson.
From Daniel Oyefusi of ESPN: “Dillon Gabriel led the 2s to end the period. Significant reduction in reps for Shedeur Sanders on a day when he was supposed to run the No. 1 offense.”
Bad News for Shedeur Sanders
After practice, too, a Browns spokesperson provided an explanation for the switch on Watson and Sanders, though Cabot’s reporting suggests it was not a switch at all.
From Chris Easterling of the Akron Beacon-Journal: “Browns team spokesman said the reason why Deshaun Watson took all of the No. 1 reps today in practice despite Todd Monken saying beforehand that Shedeur Sanders was going to was because “There were personnel groupings (Monken) wanted to see Deshaun with.”
Which sounds reasonable in one context: Monken is getting closer to naming Watson the starter. It’s all bad news for Sanders. Maybe that will change, and maybe too much is being read into one practice. But coaches have limited time to install their systems in training camp–they don’t waste days. It’s hard to view Saturday as anything other than a precursor to Watson winning the job.
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