Criticism is nothing new for the Cleveland Browns, but first-year head coach Todd Monken recently got his first taste of what it’s like when the entire football world is disparaging the franchise. That experience started for Monken when he announced that Deshaun Watson would be Cleveland’s Week 1 starting quarterback for the 2026 season.
Fans and media members condemned the move, arguing that it makes no sense to start Watson since he isn’t going to be in the team’s future, and more importantly, since he hasn’t been good since the 2020 season. Monken is quick to let it be known that he doesn’t care about the criticism, arguing that he feels Watson gives the Browns the best chance to score points in Week 1.
One reason Monken may feel that way could be found in a shocking admission he recently made. Speaking with the media on Tuesday, the Browns head coach revealed that he hasn’t gone back to look at any of the 19 games Watson played for Cleveland.
As surprising as that might be, it kind of explains why he’s so comfortable rolling with the veteran QB as his starter.
Todd Monken admits he hasn’t watched Deshaun Watson’s previous Browns games
Monken said the same thing back in April, but the expectation was that he would eventually get caught up with more time on the job. Instead, the head coach is doubling down and making it clear that he has no desire to dive into who Watson has been as a quarterback during his time with the Browns.
"I really, to be honest, haven’t looked at it," Monken said. "To be honest, only from afar. When people say, 'You had to look at it,' well, not really. I looked at it from afar when I was down the road, in crossover film or something, but I try to take everything at face value, what I see. It doesn’t matter what the player is. I think we owe that to our players, guys that are on the roster. I want to go into it thinking every player we have is elite, and all they have to do is prove me right. … So, I really haven’t looked at that — different staff, different system. We’ll let it play out. We’ll see where it goes starting a week from now."
Monken is arguing that he truly gave Watson a clean slate, only judging him on what he has done on his watch. On one hand, that makes sense. It can be a bit unfair to judge a player on their past when they’ve had time to improve. On the other hand, that philosophy overlooks how history can often be the best indicator of the future.
If Monken looked at Watson’s Cleveland era film, he would see that the erratic, inconsistent version of Watson that was on display in training camp and the preseason is just who he is as a quarterback now. The veteran QB hasn’t given fans much reason to believe that his flaws can be coached out of him at this point in his career.
Could looking at the larger sample size have influenced Monken's decision on the starter? Who knows, but there’s a reason the head coach didn’t turn on Watson’s Browns film.
Additionally, it’s a bit contradictory to point back to Watson’s time as an elite quarterback with the Houston Texans, which Monken has done, to argue that he can get back to that point, while trying to simultaneously ignore his more recent years of bad football.
Browns fans haven’t let go of those years of bad football, and that’s why they aren’t buying any of the Watson propaganda that Monken is pushing. Ultimately, though, Monken is right; what happens next is all that matters. For his sake, he just has to hope that what’s next for Watson isn’t more of the same, because he won’t be able to ignore it this time.
Add us as a preferred source on Google