The Cleveland Browns made the quarterback announcement that fans expected on Wednesday night when Deshaun Watson was announced as the starter for Saturday’s preseason opener against the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field. Based on how the practice reps have been divided over the past week, all signs pointed to Watson getting the first crack in a competition that head coach Todd Monken still insists is open entering preseason action.
Until Monken makes a decision on who will start Week 1 of the regular season, there are no bad theories on how these next 15 days could play out. Former 11-year NFL veteran Chris Canty weighed in on the Watson news during Thursday morning’s episode of First Take on ESPN, and he made a point that Browns fans definitely shouldn’t ignore.
Monken has continually brought up the date Aug. 20, which is when the Buffalo Bills will be in Berea for a joint practice. With the ability for the coaches to get the exact looks they want in a controlled scrimmage environment, you could argue that date has and continues to be the most important on the Browns’ entire training camp schedule.
So with Shedeur Sanders now scheduled to start next week’s home game against the Bills on Saturday, Aug. 22, he could regain the upper hand in Cleveland’s quarterback competition — if he gets the bulk of the first-team reps against the Bills in that joint practice.
“Here’s the thing,” Canty said, “Todd Monken clued us in when he made this announcement that both Deshaun and Shedeur were going to have an opportunity to start preseason games this year. Shedeur is going to start Week 2 of the preseason against the Buffalo Bills.
Now, leading up to that game, there will be joint practices with the Bills. Who ends up taking the lion’s share of the first-team reps is going to clue us in on who has the inside track to being the Week 1 starter. And what I will say is this — it would be odd for Shedeur Sanders to start the second preseason game against the Buffalo Bills if during the joint practices, in the lead-up, if he’s working with the No. 2 unit primarily. So I think it’s interesting to see what ends up happening in terms of who ends up taking the lion’s share of those reps in those joint practices, because we know that Shedeur is going to be the starter for preseason Game 2.”
The Bills' joint practice may be the real turning point in Cleveland's quarterback battle
It’s hard to just brush aside Monken’s decision to start Watson against the Bears this weekend, but it’s also easy for fans to convince themselves that Sanders remains in the hunt for Week 1 of the regular season.
The locations of these two games definitely matter. Watson will start in Chicago, where he’ll be protected from a charged-up crowd ready to boo loudly as soon as the offense makes a mistake. Sanders will get the home game which should help keep the vibes as positive as possible at Huntington Bank Field, at least for the first half.
But to Canty’s point, the joint practice with Buffalo really matters. Monken has brought that date up multiple times unprompted, and the Browns haven’t been splitting daily practice reps between the two quarterbacks. It’s either been a Watson day with the first unit or a Sanders day, with the other working with the top reserves.
Cleveland will have four practices next week, starting on Monday, Aug. 17. The joint practice with the Bills will be on Thursday, followed by an off day. If the Browns continue their usual quarterback rotation, whoever gets first-team reps in Tuesday’s practice would be up again for the Bills on Thursday.
The joint practice setup is unique and could offer more opportunities for both quarterbacks to get in some quality reps. But if Watson ends up getting his work with the starters that day, that would mitigate the impact of Sanders’ scheduled preseason start two days later.
Monken has been mum on where this competition stands, but he’ll have no choice but to show his hand on Aug. 20 with the Bills in town. If Sanders gets the majority of first-team reps that day and then has a strong showing in the game that Saturday, a competition that seems to be leaning heavily Watson’s way could get interesting again.
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