The Cleveland Browns‘ quarterback position battle is easily the team’s most intriguing of the summer, with veteran Deshaun Watson appearing to take an early lead over incumbent starter and second-year signal-caller/fan-favorite Shedeur Sanders through OTAs and heading into training camp.
Speaking to the NFL Network on Friday, June 26, wide receiver and first-round rookie KC Concepcion spoke to the fight for the right to throw him the football currently ongoing between Watson and Sanders.
“Both of those guys, you know, are amazing people, amazing teammates, you know, amazing quarterbacks,” Concepcion said. “Everybody is fighting for a spot on the roster. So, it’s going to be, you know, intriguing, you know who comes away with it.”
Browns May Not Decide Between Deshaun Watson, Shedeur Sanders Until Late August
GettyCleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson.
New head coach Todd Monken is keeping his cards close to the vest and has indicated it could be mid-to-late August before he makes a final call on a QB1.
“Sources say nothing has changed in the Browns’ quarterback competition since the end of minicamp, when Todd Monken declined to set his QB depth chart and revealed that he’ll carry the two-way competition between Sanders and Watson into training camp,” Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com reported last week. “He indicated the sweepstakes could last through the three preseason games so he can see the two QBs operate in a game setting against a live pass rush and coverage.”
Pretty much everyone else, at least the fans and a reasonable chunk of less-inside media, are speculating as to the different machinations of how the battle could play out.
One argument is that if Monken and general manager Andrew Berry care about appeasing the fanbase at all, they will hand Sanders the football and let him either earn the QB1 job or lose it to Watson during the regular season.
The same sort of position pops up frequently when discussing whether either player has a chance to become the longterm answer under center in Cleveland, or if Monken and Berry are simply using Sanders and Watson as placeholder QBs until they can select their franchise player of the future in the first round of the 2027 NFL draft.
Shedeur Sanders Trade Rumors Not Real Just Yet
GettyCleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders.
Another currently popular topic of discourse is the potential that Cleveland might trade Sanders if Watson wins the job heading into the final year of his contract.
However, Tom Pelissero of NFL Network threw cold water on that notion during an appearance on “The Rich Eisen Show” Thursday, June 25.
“Anything out there that they are looking to trade him, I would put zero stock in that,” Pelissero said. “If I had to make an educated guess, I’d say he and Deshaun Watson both are on the team in September.”
However, Cabot offered a caveat in her report that the Browns are likely to at least listen to potential offers for Sanders once the regular season begins if Watson is the clear No. 1.
“It doesn’t mean the Browns have ruled out trading Sanders at the end of camp,” Cabot said. “Everyone has a price, and the Browns would undoubtedly listen to offers for [Sanders] if Watson wins the starting job.”
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