The Cleveland Browns have only played one game in the 2026 season, but the drama surrounding the team is already in mid-season form. In true Cleveland fashion, that drama centers around the quarterback position.
In Week 2, the Browns will go on the road to play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who are led by Baker Mayfield. The former Cleveland quarterback has made it clear that he has this game circled, so the Browns will have to deal with a motivated Mayfield, determined to send them to 0-2.
Even without the Mayfield revenge angle, Cleveland has enough to worry about with its current quarterback. Deshaun Watson is coming off an underwhelming performance in the team’s Week 1 loss, and everyone wants to know if a similar outing in Week 2 would result in him being benched.
Browns’ head coach Todd Monken was asked directly on Wednesday if Watson needs a good game against Tampa to earn the start in Week 3. While Monken wouldn’t agree to that completely, he did give a rambling answer that didn’t really shut the door on a possible quarterback change ahead of Week 3.
"I wouldn’t say that. I always expect our players to play well," Monken said. "I wouldn’t put them out there if I didn’t. So, I expect [Watson] to play really well. There was moments Sunday that he did, and there were moments we did a really good job offensively, and there were moments we didn’t. There were moments we didn’t coach well enough; there were moments we didn’t play well enough. I don’t get too far ahead, because really what matters most is that we have a great Wednesday, and that’s what I can control."
Todd Monken is only focused on the Buccaneers, despite quarterback noise
Monken talked about expecting all of his players, including Watson, to play well. The head coach also reflected on the Week 1 game to once again point out that Cleveland did some things well and struggled with others. While emphasizing that his current focus is only maximizing the day, Monken went on to talk about how he liked the team’s play early in Week 1, before they ultimately got worn down and unraveled.
It was a long, winding response for a rather simple question about if Watson is playing to hold on to his job. Monken approaching the response like that can easily lead fans to believe that a quarterback change will be on the table if the Browns encounter another offensive disaster in Week 2.
Browns fans, and seemingly everyone else in the NFL world, are hoping that’s the case. Fans and media members were already baffled at the fact that Watson was being given another opportunity in Cleveland, despite the first four years going so poorly. With his first start of the 2026 season continuing that trend, the masses would love to see Cleveland just hand things over to Shedeur Sanders.
Add us as a preferred source on Google