When the Cleveland Browns take the field in Week 1, Deshaun Watson will be the team’s starting quarterback. Cleveland’s decision to name Watson the starter was met with a ton of criticism, but Browns head coach Todd Monken has been clear that he doesn’t care how unpopular the decision is. He believes Watson gives Cleveland the best chance to beat the Jacksonville Jaguars, and he’s standing on that.
Monken knows the solution to changing the narrative is Watson playing well and winning games, and he believes that will happen. But what if it doesn’t? What if the football world is right and starting Watson proves to be a disaster? What if Cleveland is forced to make a quarterback change, and Shedeur Sanders immediately looks like the better quarterback?
The answer is that Monken’s reputation would plummet, just a few games into his first year as an NFL head coach. That’s the gamble he’s taking by betting on Watson.
Browns fans’ confidence in Todd Monken will be determined by Deshaun Watson’s performance
Watson being bad won’t single-handedly tank Monken’s reputation; it would just make everyone say ‘I told you so,’ while accusing Cleveland of wasting time. What happens next, though, is what could ultimately result in a hit to the head coach’s standing with fans.
If the Browns decide to stick with Watson, even if he is stinking it up, the fan base would quickly sour on Monken. However, if Watson is benched, and there’s a clear improvement with the offense once Sanders is inserted into the lineup, fans will have a ton of questions.
Naturally, everyone is going to question Monken’s ability to evaluate talent if he opted to start the season with the clearly better quarterback on the bench. Former Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski went through a similar experience last season, when Dillon Gabriel started the year over Sanders, despite the offense clearly having a different spark with Sanders in the lineup.
While Stefanski had many other transgressions, that situation had fans looking at him funny. The same thing would happen to Monken if that’s how the 2026 season unfolds.
If anyone is willing to give Monken grace, they’d argue that the decision to start Watson came from above his head. However, that won’t leave fans feeling good either, because no one wants a head coach that isn’t allowed to call the shots.
Ultimately, the only way Todd Monken and the Browns can come out of this cleanly is if Deshaun Watson goes out and proves the rest of the football world wrong.
Unfortunately for Cleveland, that’s not a good bet in 2026.
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