All offseason long, the belief has been that Shedeur Sanders would get the opportunity to start for the Cleveland Browns to begin the season.
That approach would make sense considering Sanders is the only semblance of hope for the franchise when it comes to a long-term solution at quarterback.
However, it appears things aren’t moving in that direction in Cleveland.
According to Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com, it’s Deshaun Watson, not Sanders, who has the “inside track” to start this season.
Cabot reports that Watson has taken the lead over Sanders for the starting job after voluntary minicamp last week.
“Deshaun Watson emerged from the Browns voluntary minicamp last week with an edge over Shedeur Sanders in the two-man quarterback competition — and has the inside track to be named the Browns QB1, sources tell cleveland.com,” Cabot reported.
Cabot goes on to add that new Browns head coach Todd Monken would like to have a good idea of who his starter is by the conclusion of the team’s minicamp in June.
So, while things don’t look great now, that at least gives Sanders time to rebound.
“Todd Monken hopes to declare — or at least identify — his starter by the end of Browns minicamp June 9-11, meaning Sanders has about six weeks to close the gap and try to overtake the former three-time Pro Bowler,” Cabot wrote.
It’s understandable why the Browns want things figured out sooner rather than later.
If the competition drags on throughout the offseason, Sanders and Watson will have to split reps in practice.
Having a starter identified sooner rather than later creates more stability for the offense as it prepares for the 2026 campaign.
The Browns’ trade for Watson, and the subsequent monster contract extension the team gave him, has been a total disaster, something even Browns owner Jimmy Haslam has admitted.
“We took a big swing and miss with Deshaun. We thought we had the quarterback, we didn’t and we gave up a lot of draft picks to get him. So we’ve got to dig ourselves out of that hole. [The trade] was an entire organization decision and it ends with Dee and I, so hold us accountable,” Haslam said
Along with all the off-the-field issues Watson has had and consecutive season-ending injuries, he has also looked like a shell of the player who once appeared to be on a star trajectory when he was with the Houston Texans.
Barring a total turnaround, the book is already written on Watson and we pretty much know what to expect, which is bad quarterback play.
Sanders remains a wild card and actually offers promise.
He wasn’t great during his rookie year in 2025, but he did show some flashes of being an NFL starter despite not having a full offseason of first-team reps.
There is at least a chance that Sanders turns into the quarterback of the future and that should have been enough for him to get a look.
On the flip side, Monken is in his first year as the head coach and needs to make a strong first impression.