It’s still way too early to make any real judgments on the Cleveland Browns’ quarterback competition. So far, frontrunners Deshaun Watson and Shedeur Sanders have been on the field for one voluntary veteran minicamp ahead of the draft in April, and the first three days of OTAs here in late May. These are limited-contact workouts with the players running around in shorts.
The signs pointing towards Watson are getting impossible to ignore, though. ESPN reporters Daniel Oyefusi and Jeremy Fowler combined on a deep dive into why the team is seriously considering Watson as an option in 2026. Zac Jackson of The Athletic recently tweeted that he believes Sanders’ current standing on the depth chart matches his new jersey number.
If Watson ends up getting the ball Week 1 against the Jacksonville Jaguars this year, fans will be put in an awkward position. They’ve been starving for a consistent, winning product. They also want to feel a bond and connection to their team, and Watson — who hasn’t spoken publicly since he first tore his Achilles in the middle of 2024 — may have already burned that bridge to the ground.
We’ll know a lot more once the pads finally come on in July and we see Watson and Sanders taking live reps against a real pass rush. In the meantime, it at least feels like Watson’s job to lose — and that makes Bleacher Report’s “dream 2026 scenario” for the Browns a little too tough to stomach.
NFL writer Brad Gagnon refreshingly didn’t include tanking for the 2027 draft in his take (we appreciate you, Brad). He did however present a potential doomsday scenario that would come packaged in a perfectly wrapped gift box with a bow on top.
“One of the three quarterbacks in the mix to start grabs the job by the horns and the Browns make a surprise playoff run with said quarterback,” Gagnon wrote, “an exciting new coaching staff and the best defensive player in the sport.”
Deshaun Watson leading the Browns to the 2026 playoffs would actually be a nightmare
If Watson starts Week 1 and plays his best ball as a Brown, Cleveland has a real chance to spend December and January in the AFC playoff hunt. The key will be managing a tough first half of the schedule that features six road games in nine weeks. If the Browns can hit their Week 11 bye at 5-5 or even 4-6, they’ll have a chance to leverage a much lighter path in the second half that starts with three consecutive home games from Weeks 12 through 14.
In a hypothetical world where Watson stays healthy, starts all 17 games, and leads the Browns to a 9-8 record and the No. 7 seed in the AFC playoffs, Cleveland’s next move would be extremely complicated. In the Oyefusi and Fowler report, a source close to Watson said “I think he would be open” to staying in Cleveland beyond 2026, and team leadership has been careful about not closing that door.
Could the Browns extend Watson before his contract voids in March of 2027? In a nutshell, anything is possible. GM Andrew Berry would have to bake new cap charges into existing ones and do some Team USA-level gymnastics. He’s uniquely qualified to do it, but the Browns have been planning to designate Watson as a post-June 1 release at the start of the 2027 league year for cap purposes, and it would likely take something seismic this season for that to change.
Cleveland’s dream scenario is more specific — and it definitely involves challenging in the AFC North, not tanking for another imaginary quarterback savior in the 2027 draft. In a perfect world, Sanders wins the job this summer and leads the Browns to a winning season. Monken establishes a clear culture in Year 1. And the Browns move on from Watson as planned and replace his roster spot accordingly.
Sanders appears to have ground to cover, though, and that realization should lead to angst among the fan base for another few months.
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