The Cleveland Browns, despite being a five-win team in 2025, have been one of the most talked about teams of the offseason. Everyone is curious to see who will emerge as the starting quarterback. Will it be Deshaun Watson, who’s hoping to revive a career that hasn't looked the same since he arrived in Cleveland? Or Shedeur Sanders, who’s trying to prove he’s the franchise quarterback the Browns been desperately looking for?
The answer is still unclear, but the NFL world is thirsty for some clarity, and that has been on full display since the Browns started OTAs. However, the public’s thirst has them latching on to every clip, tracker, and development coming out of Cleveland while irresponsibly crafting narratives without the full picture.
That was especially on display Wednesday, when the Browns held their first open OTA practice. One of the practice clips that circulated the most was of Watson throwing a beautiful, roughly 35-yard touchdown pass to rookie receiver Denzel Boston. Naturally, the play had people excited about Boston and wondering whether Watson is successfully turning back the clock.
It was only one clip, though, which is far from a complete picture. Cleveland reporter Zac Jackson, during a Thursday appearance on the Ultimate Cleveland Sports Show, gave an idea of just how much of the story fans are missing.
Jackson detailed how on the play prior to that touchdown, Watson threw a deep ball that resulted in a dropped interception. On the play after the impressive pass to Boston, the veteran quarterback missed Jerry Jeudy on a comeback by seven yards.
Zac Jackson (@AkronJackson) was in Berea yesterday for the #Browns open OTA to the media. He saw the QBs up close and personal.
— Ultimate Cleveland Sports Show (@ultCLEsports) May 21, 2026
Here's what he took away from that battle as Todd Monken continues to install his new offense. pic.twitter.com/AnsCkMxQgV
Browns practice details should serve as a lesson to fans
This isn’t to say fans shouldn’t be excited about clips from practice. It’s just a reminder that they shouldn’t read too much into them. While the NFL does a great job of giving everyone access, people outside of a team’s building are left out of the loop. In addition to a few clips not telling the full story, it’s rarely clear what a team’s objectives are for a given play, period, or practice. There are often too many unknown factors to draw major conclusions.
The one thing that is clear, though, is that Cleveland is practicing — spring practice to be exact. That means there’s really no need to break down every play that hits the social media timeline, or argue about how a quarterback may have been a beat late on a throw, or how a receiver didn’t attack the ball on a specific play. We're talking about practice, and it’s only May. That means things are going to look less than ideal, even ugly sometimes.
It’s supposed to be that way because the Browns are building right now. Obsessing over every clip from OTAs is like a prospective homebuyer going to tour a house when it’s only a plot of land; they can’t make any sound decisions about the work in progress.
That’s the predicament Browns fans are in right now. Everyone is working with a very limited amount of information, so it’s best to sit back and wait before jumping to any conclusions.
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