If NFL Films were to make a documentary about the Cleveland Browns’ latest quarterback competition, fans wouldn’t exactly be subjected to good football.
As longtime Browns reporter Zac Jackson colorfully put it on his podcast this week: “Like, the Browns have been having a quarterback competition since like f— 1982. And I’ve been there for a lot of them. And this one, five days in, is especially bad.”
With that said, we’re now six days into training camp, with the past two in full pads. It’s becoming more painfully obvious by the day that veteran Deshaun Watson is struggling.
Shedeur Sanders has been far from perfect, but he’s shown the most improvement in head coach Todd Monken’s offense from the spring to the summer, especially with his reads and progressions. Based on unofficial stats from ESPN Cleveland — which are unofficial and admittedly an imperfect way to judge a quarterback competition — Sanders leads Watson in attempts, completions, completion percentage, touchdowns, and interceptions after what’s been a clean 50/50 split of first- and second-team reps.
By all accounts, Sanders has been ascending in this competition for a while and should now clearly be in the lead. But Monken — who originally wanted to name his starter by spring minicamp — continued to shut down that narrative during Tuesday’s pre-practice meeting with reporters.
When asked directly about Watson’s continued struggles and his level of concern, Monken gave another measured response, similar to the one he gave after Watson threw his sixth interception in four practices earlier in camp.
He went back to the Browns still being in the install phase, with a lack of “move the ball” sessions that accurately simulate the real flow of a game.
"Right now, we're only doing that in two-minute," Monken said. "The only time you can try to stack plays besides just running one play after the other — 'hey, it's third-and-4, it's third-and-6, it's third-and-7,' right? The only time we have that is two-minute, and the last two we've been in there we haven't functioned very well. Now a lot of that has to do with the defense, in terms of how well they're able to rush the passer, but I'm not concerned with any of that yet, with any of the quarterbacks. We have to start working on drives, and then once we start getting into practices against the Bills and the preseason games."
If Deshaun Watson is still leading the Browns’ QB competition, he’s hanging on by a thread
Monken’s comments only prove further that this competition will drag out, at least until Week 3 of the preseason. He brought up the Bills joint practice unprompted, but that session is scheduled for Aug. 20 — more than two weeks away.
While perfectly fair, the Browns’ Week 1 starter deserves as much work with the first team as possible to get ready for the opener at Jacksonville on Sept. 13. Monken has continued to rotate not only his top two quarterbacks, but the offensive linemen as well.
Watson admitted to reporters last week that it’s tough to get into a rhythm in practice when you’re constantly switching from first to second team. “It’s definitely challenging,” he said, “but at the same time, you can’t make that an excuse.”
Sanders has seemed less disturbed by the rep distribution. He worked with the second unit during Monday’s initial padded practice and connected on a pair of deep touchdown passes to KC Concepcion and Gage Larvadain. He stayed hot on Tuesday back with the first-team offense, completing 21 of his 25 passes with no interceptions, per ESPN Cleveland’s practice tracker.
DAY 6 OF BROWNS TRAINING CAMP IS IN THE BOOKS! Here’s how the QBs performed in team drills (7v7 and 11v11). Shedeur Sanders took all the 1st team reps. pic.twitter.com/dVcrWjVrrd
— ESPN Cleveland (@ESPNCleveland) August 4, 2026
The competition was probably close through Week 1 of camp, even with Watson’s turnover issues. But through the first two days of pads, it hasn’t seemed close at all. While the defense continues to make life extremely difficult, the most confident and efficient passer has been Sanders by a clear margin.
It’s still too early to name Sanders the starter. We’ve gotten this far in the competition, and it’s only fair to see how both players look in the preseason opener against Chicago on Aug. 15.
But Monken promised to allocate reps accordingly once the players started making those decisions for him on the field. Sanders has definitely earned a larger share, and he shouldn’t have to wait until the Bills come to town in 16 days to get them.
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