Todd Monken just got his second chance to squash any outside noise on his quarterback situation, and he mysteriously chose Door No. 3. Again.
Despite a Monday morning report by NFL insider Jeremy Fowler that Deshaun Watson will resume as the Cleveland Browns’ starter this week, the head coach wasn’t ready to go there, surprisingly choosing to let the outside chatter continue to churn for another 48-ish hours.
“I am not,” Monken said when asked if he’s ready to announce this week’s starting quarterback. “I haven’t really thought through it other than getting through this morning’s tape. We just got done meeting with the guys. We’ll flush the game, and then we’ll have a chance to meet offensively more extensively a little bit later today. Just we went through the tape, immediately had to break, go with personnel. Then the team comes in and we haven’t had a chance to circle back as an offensive staff.”
When pressed a bit further on the topic, Monken replied, simply: “I think I’ve answered the question.”
“It’s week to week,” he added. “A player doesn’t lose or win a job (because of injury). I don’t know what that means. Each week we put the best players on the field to give us a chance to win.”
Well, surely Monken will have a decision on who his starter will be by Tuesday morning, right?
“No, I don’t see it that way,” he said. “Do I think it will be then? No. I just said we haven’t really circled back as an offensive staff.”
Todd Monken just gave Shedeur Sanders' case more life without actually endorsing it
It was one thing for Monken to take this approach postgame, but it’s officially a development now. Sanders certainly played well enough on Sunday to give team brass some pause. He made three of the Browns’ best quarterback plays of the season while trailing in the fourth quarter and overtime to give the team a chance to steal a win at New Orleans.
Sanders passed for 272 yards and two touchdowns after halftime and injected a level of explosiveness that the offense has been lacking under Watson. His 9.9 yards per attempt on Sunday was a season high for the Browns.
Monken chose some interesting words to describe Sanders’ performance, including saying there “was a lot to build on.”
“Well I’m awfully proud of him,” Monken said. “I thought he battled. I thought he showed composure in the pocket, getting to his checkdowns at times. He made plays with his feet, and escaping. … I thought our operation, for the most part, was clean. We didn’t have a delay of game, we didn’t have to use timeouts. I thought our guys took that to heart. So there was a lot to like, and certainly a lot to clean up, and that would be expected for a player who only had three days with the ones. I thought there was a lot to build on.”
When asked if Sanders’ play had altered Monken’s stance on whether the 24-year-old should play more at some point this season, Monken deflected with more praise.
“I wouldn’t say it altered it,” he said. “I was thrilled. I was happy for him. Every player wants to go and play, and play well. And there were moments I didn’t coach well enough and he didn’t play well enough. But there were moments at the end of the game where he made plays. He got it in the players’ hands. He did a really good job. He was in command. So I was really pleased for him — and I was hopeful he’d play well. I thought he had a great week of practice, and there is no guarantee that will carry over. So I’m really happy for him. And does it give me confidence, from what I saw in (fall camp)? Sure it does. It gives me more and more confidence that what I saw in the fall that there’s something to build on, for sure.”
It’s entirely possible that Fowler’s report is accurate and Monken just hasn’t relayed the information to the players yet. What’s almost impossible to believe is that the offensive coaches haven’t met and discussed how Sanders played and which direction they’re leaning. The team just had a long flight home from New Orleans. The coaches have definitely discussed next steps.
The expectation now is to hold court until Wednesday, when Monken will be back in front of reporters at the team facility prior to practice.
Cleveland’s head coach probably didn’t mean to stoke the fire, but the outside debates and calls for Sanders are only going to get louder over these next two days. Buckle up.
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