The Cleveland Browns will continue to split first-team reps with their quarterbacks this week. The team's disappointing preseason debut against the Chicago Bears didn't change Todd Monken's plan or vision for the competition.
As things stand now, Shedeur Sanders is slated to work with the starters on Monday and Wednesday, with Deshaun Watson leading the way during Tuesday's lone padded session prior to Thursday's joint practice with the Buffalo Bills. Sanders will split first-team reps Thursday against the Bills in some fashion.
While that may have been positive for Sanders, as he'd get three days of practice with the first-teamers, the trade-off might not help him on Saturday. He may not get much run alongside the starters in his scheduled preseason start.
Resting starters could leave Shedeur Sanders with fewer meaningful game reps in Week 2 of the preseason
According to Zac Jackson of The Athletic, Monken and Bills head coach Joe Brady agreed to turn up the intensity a notch on Thursday. But if things go according to plan, that means the starters won't be out there for long on Saturday:
"Monken said he and Joe Brady agreed that the 1s will play “a significant amount” against each other Thursday and then won’t play Saturday if the starters for each team get satisfactory work Thursday," Jackson wrote.
Sanders didn't do much to help his case with a sloppy preseason debut against the Bears on Saturday, but it's hard to make an accurate assessment until he gets to play with the first-team offense. Watson played with the starters for most of the first half on Saturday and got progressively worse as Cleveland dug deeper into its bench in the second quarter.
If this is truly a competition, Sanders deserves the right to play as many snaps with the starters and backups as Watson did in the preseason opener.
Watson has always seemed to be ahead in the pecking order. It feels like Monken has only dragged out the inevitable, and it probably would've been better to name Watson the starter from the jump and just get this over with.
But if Sanders truly has a chance to beat out Watson for the job, then why not give him a fair opportunity with the guys who will be out there with him on Sundays? Granted, he'd still get to practice with them in a game-like environment in joint practices, but nothing can replace actual reps in a game, even if it's just the preseason.
Of course, this isn't to say that Sanders should be the starter, though that would probably make the most sense for countless reasons. If anything, the mere fact that he hasn't been able to beat this new version of Deshaun Watson might say everything there is to know about where he stands in this quarterback competition.
That said, this whole competition is starting to feel like a charade and a waste of everybody's time and valuable reps. This might be the first big mistake of the Todd Monken era, and if he's about to roll with Watson, he might as well just rip the band-aid once and for all.
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