The Cleveland Browns will wrap up OTAs in Berea this week, and head coach Todd Monken reiterated to reporters on Wednesday that he’s not ready to name a starter. He did compliment both Shedeur Sanders and Deshaun Watson with this line: “We have two starting-level quarterbacks. We really do.”
All that really confirms is that Monken has Dillon Gabriel on a lower tier, although that’s been clear based on the reporting from spring practices so far. There was an undeniable shift, though, in Wednesday’s session that was fully open to the media. After weeks of expert predictions and buzz around Watson having the leg-up on Sanders, that so-called gap appears to be closing.
According to Browns reporter Ashley Bastock, Sanders noticeably got more time with the first team in full-speed periods. On a day the defense won handily — a phrase we could read often during training camp next month — Sanders owned the throw of the day on a deep ball to Isaiah Bond, a connection that was clearly blossoming towards the end of the 2025 regular season.
It was one practice with no pads or pass rush. But two days after GM Andrew Berry shockingly traded future Hall of Famer Myles Garrett for a haul of picks and young star Jared Verse, a player Berry said better fits the team’s timeline, the quarterback who best fits that same longer-term logic had his best day.
Watson? He might have had his worst, at least in sessions open to the media.
“Shedeur certainly did more than Deshaun today, and for the three OTA practices we’ve been out here, this was really the first one where — I mean, I think Shedeur worked with the ones basically all day,” Bastock said on 92.3 The Fan. “I can’t think of a period where he didn’t lead them off that was a full-speed period. I also think he had the throw of the day, that go-ball to Isaiah Bond in the final two-minute sort of period that they did. So I mean all of that was really good. I think he had the better day today, but I do think overall this was still a fairly sloppy practice, a lot of things that Todd Monken is going to want to get cleaned up. Delays of games, some bad snaps, those sort of things. So it was by no means a perfect practice, but this was undeniably the practice where we just saw Shedeur Sanders getting more opportunities with the ones as opposed to the two prior practices in OTAs that we’ve seen.”
Shedeur Sanders just made his strongest move yet
Monken has been careful not to tip his hand, but Sanders’ performance in Wednesday’s session felt tangible. He protected the football and had multiple touchdown connections in competitive periods. Monken praised his progress not only this week, but since he arrived in Berea as the Browns’ head coach.
Watson, who reportedly flashed the consistency of a 10-year veteran in previous open practices, struggled to connect on Wednesday.
“It just felt like guys weren’t connecting out there,” Bastock said. “He wasn’t completing these passes in the way that quite honestly he had made look easy in the two prior practices.”
What does this mean? Absolutely nothing. There’s been speculation around Monken setting the depth chart during or shortly after the team’s mandatory three-day minicamp that starts June 9, but it feels way too early to make any snap judgments off voluntary OTA workouts. All along, we've wanted to see how Sanders and Watson handle competitive drills in full pads with Myles Garrett wrecking practice. The same logic should apply going forward — only we’ll be tracking Verse in his new No. 8 Browns jersey instead.
This does, however, create a clear path for the outcome the majority of Browns fans have been hoping for — that Sanders rises up, clearly beats out Watson, and earns Monken’s trust as the right man to lead Cleveland’s young roster into Week 1.
Aside from financial commitments, Sanders has always made the most sense to start this year since the Browns passed on adding another quarterback in free agency. Watson’s contract is structured for him to be designated as a post-June 1 release in March of 2027. Despite some of the ridiculous fodder out there, that’s not changing whether Watson starts, sits, plays well, or plays poorly.
But just like Browns fans don’t want the team to just default back to Watson because he’s finally healthy, they shouldn’t want the same for Sanders. He needs to earn it — and without going overboard, Wednesday felt like a major first step.
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