The reality is that, when it comes to the Cleveland Browns and who will be the team’s quarterback in the coming season–or even in the upcoming training camp–much of what has been reported and assumed is just speculation. Sure there have been nuggets from insiders and sources in Berea saying that the job is Deshaun Watson‘s, but we have never really known how true that is, or whether Watson is only some kind of decoy being used to motivate his top competitor for the job, Shedeur Sanders, in his second season.
We don’t really know who the Browns quarterback will be, and we can’t even be sure that head coach Todd Monken knows, either. He’s said it is an open competition and by all the actual facts we have–not supposition or deduction, but facts–it’s still very much that.
But after three rounds of OTA practices in the last three weeks and with the Browns moving their timetable back with the trade of Myles Garrett, it does seem that Sanders is gaining a little bit of momentum.
Shedeur Sanders’ ‘Aura’ Gets Attention
But that makes this coming week all the more important for Sanders. Monken has said he hopes to have a No. 1 quarterback picked by the time training camp starts, and the final chance for Sanders to make his case as the leader ahead of Watson is in the three days of minicamp that start on Tuesday at Browns headquarters.
Over the weekend, during an appearance on “The Insiders” on NFL Network, Cameron Wolfe reported that Sanders has brought a certain “aura” to OTA practices that coaches have picked up on, and that the presumption that the Browns’ starting job was Watson’s to lose has fallen by the wayside.
Said Wolfe: “It’s actually pretty wide open, I know there were a lot of early conversations about this is Deshaun Watson’s job to lose, but from what I understand, Shedeur Sanders has had a really strong last few weeks of OTAs.”
Shedeur Sanders’ Best Chance to Grab QB1 Job
But that won’t matter if Sanders does not continue to progress at this week’s Browns minicamp. As longtime host Ken Carman of 92.3 in Cleveland said, Sanders could secure his immediate Browns future with a good few days this week.
“This week starts the minicamp, the mandatory minicamp that, they have to be there,” Carman said. “Last chance to get on the field before we have to go for certain next year and get ready for the 2026 season. This might be the biggest week of Shedeur Sanders’ career as we get ready for this. Because I think after this week, Todd Monkenk’s going to go into training camp with a very strong idea that either, A, Deshaun Watson is his quarterback or, B, we really need to give this young man a look here.
“Because everything we have heard has been Watson, Watson, Watson, Watson the whole way through. I got annoyed by it.”
Deshaun Watson Makes Little Sense for Browns
Perhaps the annoyance, then, is ending. Watson could still win the Browns job, of course, but the reality is that he is a 30-year-old with an Achilles tendon that has had two surgeries, and who has been limited to just 19 games in four years. For a team bent on focusing on the future, especially after the Garrett trade, starting him over the 24-year-old Sanders makes no sense.
Sanders struggled as the Browns quarterback last year in seven starts. Throwing for 1,400 yards with 10 interceptions and just seven touchdowns does not often win a guy a job. But the Browns were 3-4 under his watch after starting 2-8. Call it aura or whatever you like, but there has always been good reason to give Sanders the job.
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