BEREA — As I stood on the practice field Monday afternoon and watched Deshaun Watson throw balls into the dirt and struggle to string completions, I wondered the same thing I have for months.
How can he be the starting quarterback of the Cleveland Browns?
One thing had changed. And it was a biggie.
Watson had been declared the starting quarterback of the Cleveland Browns.
Deshaun Watson named starting QB
Coach Todd Monken made the announcement earlier in the day. He said Watson provides the best chance to win Week 1 in Jacksonville and he’s better than Shedeur Sanders at operating the offense, including communicating with the other 10 players in the huddle.
I’ve always believed trying to win every year should be a franchise’s mission. Forget tanking. Forget preparing for the future. The goal is to win now.
I just don’t see how Watson helps in that pursuit. And the decision to start him certainly isn’t about the future. He’s going to be 31 next month, is in the last year of his contract and hasn’t played at a Pro Bowl level since 2020.
Since the latter part of the offseason program, Sanders has been better on the field. He throws it more accurately and consistently. He completes more downfield passes. He’s improved taking the checkdowns, which the coaches have emphasized with him.
Perhaps the gap in running the operation is too great for Monken to feel comfortable starting the fifth-round pick in 2025.
He gives the quarterback two plays and relies on him to choose the right one after assessing the defense at the line of scrimmage. Sanders has been slower than Watson getting in and out of the huddle and lacks the same experience running a complicated scheme. That’s only natural when Watson was drafted in 2017 and Sanders in 2025.
Monken acknowledged Tuesday “it was pretty obvious” Watson was ahead early in the offseason but the organization decided to make it a competition because Sanders showed “the way he’s wired.” Monken said the competition worked.
“That was the point of it all, to get where he’s at today,” he said of Sanders. “There are certain things he has to continue to work on, and he’s going to continue to grow leaps and bounds because he’s a sponge, takes it all in, he really does. So I just think it’s a matter of time before we get a chance to see that.”
Why wait? Even if it is only until Week 3 — the home opener against the Panthers.
And why extend the competition through two preseason games if Sanders’ impressive improvement didn’t matter? Or if Watson was too far ahead to get caught? Why did Monken call it “close” and note that Sanders had narrowed the gap?
In Sanders’ last chance to influence the decision Saturday vs. the Bills, he started 8-for-8 before an interception that went off the hands of a new tight end and drew the Bills defense offside twice.
That was followed by Watson going 5-for-12 for 36 yards with an interception, then lighting up the Cleveland fans while questioning his ability to defeat their negativity.
He spoke like someone who didn’t want to be here or play for this team, and I thought that would be the last time I interviewed him.
Wow, was I wrong.
I’m all for not overreacting.
The Browns underreacted.
Todd Monken says Deshaun Watson’s reaction to fans won’t affect QB decision
The situation with Watson has been toxic since he arrived in a March 2022 trade after more than two dozen women had accused him of sexual assault and misconduct. He was never embraced by the fans for personal and performance reasons.
Watson thought the recent time away would change that. After not playing since October 2024 and working hard to come back from a twice-ruptured Achilles tendon, he seemed genuinely surprised when he was greeted with boos for his first series Saturday.
He shouldn’t have been. He was asked last Wednesday about that possibility and fired off an “I don’t care.”
He obviously did.
He was distraught over the boos and hasn’t gotten past when the fans cheered as he lay on the field with a torn Achilles 22 months ago. He said Monday he let his emotions get the best of him.
He took a torch to whatever potential relationship had remained with the fans by calling the criticism “disrespectful” and “personal.”
The airing of grievances didn’t stop Monken from picking him over Sanders. Monken acknowledged a decision this important is discussed with general manager Andrew Berry and others at the top of the organization.
Those are the people who made the disastrous trade for Watson and gave him the huge contract. The decision set back the franchise years. It hasn’t found the solution at quarterback, gave up three years of first-round draft picks and will enter the offseason with him still counting $86 million against their future salary caps.
It feels like they’re trying to salvage something from the trade in the final year of Watson’s contract, even if the situation screams “lost cause.”
At the expense of seeing if Sanders can develop into the long-term starter. At the expense of the fans. At the expense of common sense.
