The Cleveland Browns are going back to Deshaun Watson as their starting quarterback this week, the team announced on Wednesday.
While head coach Todd Monken pleaded the Fifth on the topic with reporters on Monday, the decision is hardly breaking news. NFL insider Jeremy Fowler reported that Watson would be the starter against his former team, the Houston Texans, hours after Sunday’s loss to the Saints.
The Browns plan to start Deshaun Watson in Week 10 vs the Texans, per source.
— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) November 9, 2026
Shedeur Sanders filled in Sunday in New Orleans, but returning to Watson was the expected move once he cleared concussion protocol.
The move makes sense, as despite playing well and giving the team a chance with some clutch drives in the fourth quarter and overtime, the Browns lost Shedeur Sanders’ first start of 2026 at New Orleans. Watson led the team to a 5-3 start before a concussion limited his practice participation and ultimately kept him from playing in Sunday’s game.
What’s impossible to dismiss — based on Monken’s praise of Sanders’ play, cautious approach to naming a Week 9 starter, and the team’s inaction at the NFL trade deadline — is the possibility of a quarterback change now beginning to simmer in Berea.
In Cleveland, quarterback questions and speculation will become a week-to-week thing based on Watson’s play, reporter Zac Jackson of The Athletic mused.
“The move could be temporary,” Jackson wrote of Watson. “Sunday’s game is the first of four straight at home for the Browns, whose bye week follows the game against Houston. If the offense doesn’t improve against the Texans, Monken could face another decision ahead of the final seven games. Watson is in the final year of the five-year contract he signed with the Browns after they acquired him in a 2022 trade with the Texans.”
Week 10 could be a make-or-break start for Deshaun Watson as Browns’ starting QB
The importance of this week’s home game against the Texans can’t be overstated. The Browns will be at Huntington Bank Field for the first of four consecutive home games, sandwiched around a Week 11 bye.
A loss to the streaky Texans — unfortunately, they’re currently on an upswing — would dial up the noise around Sanders taking over as the starter to maximum levels.
This will be a huge game for Cleveland, but for Watson especially. The offense was more explosive with Sanders at quarterback, averaging a season-high 10 yards per pass attempt and hitting a pair of explosive plays of 60-plus yards. A loss to Houston would be the Browns’ third in a row, dropping them to 5-5 entering the bye.
If the Browns are indeed sitting at .500, with two weeks to prepare for Fernando Mendoza and the Las Vegas Raiders? The groundwork would be there for Monken to make the move to Sanders, staring at three consecutive home games from Weeks 12 to 14.
The harsh reality here is that Watson’s future with Cleveland is capped. His return from a twice-torn Achilles — and his unlikely return to Browns fans’ good graces — has been a good story, one that’s probably not being appreciated enough from the national NFL media.
But Watson’s contract situation leaves only one realistic move next offseason. The plan since December of 2024, after Watson’s first Achilles injury, has been for Watson to depart the team and hit free agency as a post-June 1 designated release in March of 2027.
Watson’s inconsistent play as Cleveland’s starter this season — the Browns have a league-worst minus-55 point differential in the first quarter of games — has given team brass little reason to alter that exit plan.
Sanders, meanwhile, is under contract through 2028 at an extremely team-friendly number of around $1 million per season. He won’t even be eligible for an extension until the final year of his rookie deal, per NFL rules.
Playing him now would allow the Browns to make an informed decision on their approach to the quarterback room next offseason, with Watson on the way out and a pair of first-round picks in the 2027 draft in their possession.
Monken has called Sanders a starting-caliber quarterback multiple times this year, and Sanders certainly looked the part while passing for 197 yards and two touchdowns during the fourth quarter and overtime in a tight game against the Saints last week. The 24-year-old could be a viable option to open the 2027 season as the Browns’ starter, at least as a bridge to their next guy; but real practice and game reps will be paramount over these next two months.
This is a pivotal game for the Browns against a Texans team that just annihilated the Chargers, 44-22, on the road last week. They’ll travel to Cleveland with a 3-5 record but have won three of their last four.
Watson’s performance, and how the offense looks as a whole with him back in the huddle, will dictate which direction this conversation goes over the next two weeks.
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