Browns Head Coach Todd Monken Pumps the Brakes on Watson-Sanders QB Battle Buzz
Cleveland’s most talked-about quarterback competition has a new wrinkle: the coach in charge hasn’t seen enough yet to pick a winner.
TL;DR
- New Browns HC Todd Monken says he is “not there yet” on naming a starting QB after three spring practices
- Cleveland.com’s Mary Kay Cabot reported Watson had the early edge and “inside track” after the first voluntary minicamp
- Watson hasn’t played since rupturing his Achilles in October 2024 and re-tearing it in January 2025
- Monken hopes to have clarity by the end of June minicamp, June 9–11, at the latest
Three spring practices in, Todd Monken has cooled the temperature on reports that Deshaun Watson is already trending toward Cleveland’s starting job. “I would love to have that. I’m not there yet,” Monken said during an appearance on 92.3 The Fan’s The Ken Carman Show, per NFL.com.
The first-year head coach added he won’t set a deadline, though he acknowledged that four weeks of spring workouts should sharpen the picture considerably.
The response came directly after Cleveland.com’s Mary Kay Cabot reported that Watson held the inside track following the team’s first voluntary minicamp, where the veteran claimed the lion’s share of first-team reps over Shedeur Sanders and Dillon Gabriel.
Cabot cited Watson’s familiarity with schemes similar to Monken’s system and a strong showing during the one media-access window, per CBS Sports. Gabriel, selected two rounds ahead of Sanders in last year’s draft, did not receive any first-team work.
The context around both principal competitors carries weight. Watson hasn’t taken a snap in a regular-season game since tearing his Achilles in October 2024, then re-tearing it the following January, according to Sports Illustrated.
In his seven appearances before the injury that year, he went 1–6 while completing 63.4 percent of his passes for 1,148 yards, five touchdowns and three interceptions. Sanders, meanwhile, stepped in after Gabriel’s 1–5 start last season and went 3–4 as a rookie starter, completing 56.6 percent of his passes for 1,400 yards, seven touchdowns and 10 interceptions.
Monken, who has no prior coaching relationship with either player, acknowledged as much: “They’re all external to me.” For another look at how teams navigate veteran QB situations with major money on the line, our piece on Matthew Stafford’s contract talks in Los Angeles offers a useful parallel.
Browns owner Jimmy Haslam admitted last offseason that trading for Watson, which cost the franchise three first-round picks and came amid more than 22 sexual misconduct allegations — was a franchise “miss,” per Sports Illustrated.
Yet Watson remains under contract with significant dead-cap implications, keeping him in the competition whether Cleveland wants the headache or not. Monken, for his part, stressed that preseason games would still factor into any final decision: “You’re still going to want to see those guys at quarterback and see how they play.”
The Browns also added offensive line help and receivers KC Concepcion and Denzel Boston through the 2026 draft, giving whichever quarterback wins the job a meaningfully better supporting cast.
The broader question of whether rebuilding franchises should rush rookies into action, relevant here given Sanders’ trajectory — mirrors the debate in New Orleans, covered in our report on Tyler Shough’s offseason QB situation.
The 2027 draft class is widely considered deeper at quarterback, and Cleveland holds 10 picks that year — giving the front office a credible long-term escape hatch regardless of how this competition resolves.
We’ll see if Monken’s patience holds once OTA reps grow in volume and the film room starts telling a cleaner story.
