The Cleveland Browns having a quarterback controversy is unfortunately becoming a tale as old as time and hopefully this is the last year the fans have to endure this for many years. All eyes are clearly on the 2027 draft, but for now, there is a fierce battle going on between Shedeur Sanders and Deshaun Watson for the Week 1 job in 2026 and every day it seems like the scale tips in a different direction.
The hope is that this year’s competition can lead to a resolution much quicker than last year’s QB battle that lasted nearly all the way up until Week 1. New head coach Todd Monken has implied that he’d like to get this solved quickly as well, and one analyst recently suggested the Browns may have already tipped their hand.
In a recent article for Bleacher Report, Brent Sobleski predicted the winners for each of the league’s current QB competitions. In Cleveland, he believes the Myles Garrett trade was a dead giveaway that Sanders will be the starter because if the team planned to compete with Watson under center, Garrett never would have been traded.
“Despite projections of Watson being ahead early in the process, the Browns told everyone exactly what they expect from this season when the organization traded Myles Garrett to the Los Angeles Rams. If the front office planned to legitimately compete this fall because Watson was ready, looked close to Pro Bowl form from six years ago and had the franchise’s full support, Garrett would still be on Cleveland’s roster. Instead, the Browns continued to add ammunition based on the strong possibility they will need picks to assure the acquisition of a top quarterback prospect from the 2027 draft class,” Sobleski wrote.
It’s a great point that is tough to dispute. The underlying sentiment over the past two years was that 2027 was always the destination, and trading away your best player to get more ammo for that draft only adds more legitimacy to that claim.
If that is the case, it makes sense why Sanders would start. The other side of the argument is that if Sanders starts and struggles, benching him could be the end of the road for him altogether. Starting Watson and giving him a short leash would be easier in terms of optics because if he struggles, everyone can accept once and for all that he isn’t the guy and at least he got one final chance. If he does well, the Browns may be able to trade him like they did with Joe Flacco early last season.
It’s still a mess and the pendulum swings back and forth every day. One scout even still wants to see Dillon Gabriel get another shot, but that seems like an impossibility and his likely path at this point seems to be potentially ending up on another roster.
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