It wasn’t long ago that the NFL world was scoffing at Todd Monken and the Cleveland Browns’ approach to the most important position in sports.
Take Aug. 22, for example. The Browns had just held a joint practice with the Buffalo Bills at the CrossCountry Mortgage Campus and were set to host them for a preseason game at Huntington Bank Field.
Monken hadn't yet named his Week 1 starter. The plan was for Shedeur Sanders to start against the Bills and play the entire second half. Watson, who had started the week prior, was slated to open the second half and play the third quarter.
The collective bewilderment from local and national talk show hosts, and Browns fans, was prevalent. At the time, the Browns seemed like a rudderless ship with the happy-go-lucky Monken at the wheel, just happy to be there.
Fast forward to the present, now two months into the regular season, and the Browns don’t seem so crazy for handling their quarterback situation the way they did.
In fact, when you look around the league right now, they kind of look brilliant.
With Watson entering the NFL’s concussion protocol on Tuesday and now uncertain to suit up for Cleveland’s Week 9 road game against the New Orleans Saints, Monken sat behind the podium and projected a sense of calm energy amid the chaos.
No one would mistake the Browns’ quarterback depth chart as something other than middling or below average. They will have a bottom-tier starter on the field Sunday whether it’s Watson or Sanders taking the snaps.
But with a late-developing injury tossing a wrench into the team’s preparation this week, Monken, Sanders, and the Browns took it all in stride. Not only do they have a capable backup in Sanders — Monken has always said that he views both Watson and Sanders as starting-caliber quarterbacks — they have a unique situation where the backup took about as many first-team reps as any No. 2 QB in the league during the spring and summer.
“I can’t wait to see him let it rip today and see where we’re at,” Monken said of Sanders. “I mean, that’s what you do. That’s why you build depth. That’s why he got a ton of reps in fall camp. That’s really the benefit of this is when we opened it up as a competition — he got a ton of those reps.”
The Browns had us fooled all along: Their quarterback depth was always a strength
It was in passing, but during his Wednesday presser, Monken mentioned the Baltimore Ravens when talking about how quickly things can change in the NFL.
The Ravens lost starter Lamar Jackson to a thumb injury on the first play of last week’s AFC showdown with the Buffalo Bills. He’s since been placed on injured reserve. Backup Tyler Huntley then only lasted 10 snaps before exiting the same game with a toe injury.
Baltimore ended up needing undrafted rookie Joe Fagnano — its emergency QB3 for the Bills game — to play the final 40 offensive snaps. He’s now set to make his first NFL start on Thursday Night Football against the 5-2 Jacksonville Jaguars.
According to NFL insiders Ian Rapoport and Adam Schefter, the Ravens are currently finalizing a trade to bring in veteran Jacoby Brissett, who was recently benched by the Arizona Cardinals.
The Browns have often been mocked for carrying four quarterbacks this season, especially when Dillon Gabriel landed on injured reserve on roster cutdown day with a mysterious back injury. But no one’s laughing now.
Cleveland may not have a Lamar Jackson on the roster. But if facing a catastrophic situation like Baltimore’s — or even what Philadelphia is currently going through with Jalen Hurts sidelined indefinitely, Tanner McKee benched, and former Cowboys practice-squader Joe Milton now in line to start in Week 9 against the Giants — the Browns are uniquely equipped to send their next quarterback into the game with minimal drop-off.
Is it outlandish to say that Gabriel is one of the most competent No. 3 quarterbacks in football? The last time we saw him play, he threw three touchdown passes and posted a perfect passer rating in a preseason game at New England.
Monken’s business-as-usual tone was almost too authentic on Wednesday. He was genuinely excited to see Sanders lead the offense in practice. He’ll probably be just as enthusiastic when Watson is cleared to return, or if Gabriel and rookie Taylen Green ever get an opportunity to play.
No team wants to open the month of November with a castoff quarterback who didn’t spend the spring and summer in its program. That’s a brutal place to be in the NFL.
The Browns are pretty well insulated from that level of catastrophe (for a change). That whole four-quarterback thing that dominated the airwaves all summer? It’s a decision that’s aging extremely well.
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