Add The New York Post on Google It took a while to get here, but the Browns have their Week 1 starter.
Deshaun Watson will get the ball against the Jaguars over Shedeur Sanders, multiple reports said Monday morning.
The decision came down to the wire after first-year coach Todd Monken said he wanted to open training camp with a starter named. Watson and Sanders had been splitting first-team reps throughout the offseason.
The Browns begin their season on Sept. 13 in Jacksonville before traveling to Tampa Week 2 before kicking off the home slate Sept. 27 against the Panthers.
After years of instability under center, the Browns hope Watson will finally come through. They acquired Watson, a three-time Pro Bowler with Houston, in a controversial 2022 trade, but he has only played 19 games between suspension and injury while a cavalcade of fill-ins filed through the position.
Two Achilles tears cost Watson the entire 2025 season, and 40-year-old Joe Flacco was the starter for four games before he was traded and rookie Dillon Gabriel took over. When Gabriel went down with an injury, Sanders took over for the final seven games.
Gabriel, though still on the Browns’ roster, was never in consideration for the starting gig this year.
Sanders finished his rookie 2025 season with 1,400 passing yards on 56.6 percent completion to go with seven touchdowns and 10 interceptions. It was a rough start for the signal caller, who began his pro career by falling to the fifth round after being projected as a potential top 10 pick.
In two preseason games each — both played the first half of one game and second half of the other — Sanders and Watson were so similar statistically, it’s hard to give one player an edge on preseason performance alone. Sanders had one fewer completed passes in five fewer attempts on nearly identical yardage. Watson threw one interception to Sanders’ two, and he failed to record a passing touchdown while Sanders had one.
Watson has drawn the ire of fans many times during his Browns career, most recently on Saturday during his second preseason game when he was booed as he took the field in Cleveland to start the second half. Watson afterward ripped fans as “disrespectful.”
“It has nothing to do about the performance. It’s a little bit more personal than that. So I think that’s a disrespectful thing,” the eight-year veteran said. “I’m going to keep whatever I feel with me and my family internally on how I feel about that. And yeah, just move on.”
Monken said Sunday that Watson’s comments didn’t factor into his decision, rather he was assessing “the full body of work” of the two candidates.
Since coming to Cleveland in 2022, Watson has brought along plenty of controversy. He sat out the entire 2021 season dealing with the legal fallout of over two dozen sexual misconduct accusations, then missed the first 11 games of his Browns tenure after an NFL investigation into his behavior, though he was never criminally charged.
On the field, Watson hasn’t lived up to his $230 million fully guaranteed contract either. He’s played 19 total games for the Browns while recording 19 touchdowns and 12 interceptions — he recorded 33 touchdowns in 16 games in 2020 alone.
Whether or not the starter decision is permanent, the Browns face an uphill battle on offense. In a recent poll of executives and coaches by The Athletic, Watson was ranked 31st of 35 NFL quarterbacks. Sanders was 35th.
