Browns name Deshaun Watson their Week 1 starting quarterback over Shedeur Sanders
Jordan Schultz broke the news that Cleveland is going with Watson to open the season, with Sanders as the backup — and reporting indicates Watson will have to keep earning it once the games count.
The Browns' quarterback competition is over, and Deshaun Watson has won it. Jordan Schultz reported Monday morning — per multiple sources — that Cleveland is naming Watson its starting quarterback, with Shedeur Sanders opening the season as the backup.
Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report): BREAKING: The #Browns are naming Deshaun Watson as their starting QB, per multiple sources. Shedeur Sanders will be the backup.
The beat confirmed within minutes. Mary Kay Cabot of cleveland.com reported the decision through league sources, and Zac Jackson of The Athletic followed with his own confirmation that Watson will begin the season as QB1 — closing a race head coach Todd Monken had publicly refused to rush, saying as recently as Sunday that it wasn't yet time to make the call.
Mary Kay Cabot (@MaryKayCabot): #Browns have named Deshaun Watson their starting quarterback over Shedeur Sanders, league sources say:
Zac Jackson (@AkronJackson): The Browns will begin the season with Deshaun Watson as their starting QB First story here. Team interviews scheduled for the noon hour
Schultz's follow-up reporting added the texture behind the call. He reports the organization did not factor Watson's pointed comments about the fanbase — made after the boos that greeted him in his Cleveland return last week — into the decision, and notes Watson is entering the final year of his five-year, $230 million contract with "the first crack" at holding the job. Sanders, per Schultz, will be ready if a change becomes necessary.
Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report): I’m told the #Browns did not calculate Deshaun Watson’s comments about the fanbase into their decision. Watson, in the final year of a 5-year, $230M contract, will get the first crack at starting. Shedeur Sanders will be ready if a change is necessary.
And the decision itself, per Schultz, went down to the wire: both quarterbacks showed flashes of what a QB1 in Monken's offense could look like, but it ultimately leaned toward Watson's experience — with one significant caveat attached. Schultz reports Watson "will have to continue earning it once the season starts and the games are for real," with Monken, who has been by his side throughout the competition, now tasked with getting the best version of him when the results start counting.
Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report): Sources say that the decision between Deshaun Watson and Shedeur Sanders truly came down to the end. Both showed flashes of what a QB1 in Todd Monken’s offense could look like. In the end, the decision leaned toward Watson’s experience. But it’s my understanding that he will have to continue earning it once the season starts and the games are for real. Todd Monken has been by his side the entire time.
So the job is Watson's — but on a short leash, in a contract year, in front of a fanbase that made its feelings known. How long he keeps it may be the defining Browns storyline of the fall.