Barring some unforeseen developments in Saturday’s preseason game against the Buffalo Bills, all signs point to Deshaun Watson being named the Cleveland Browns starting quarterback for Week 1. Shedeur Sanders is getting the nod against Buffalo, but he won’t have the other starters alongside him to show what he can do, so he might just be embarking on a fool’s errand in his quest to wrestle the starting gig away from Watson.
Watson led the team’s only touchdown drive in the first preseason game and was efficient as a passer, even if he did leave some meat on the bone and didn’t attempt any passes down the field. He clearly still has some rust to work off, but he has also shown a glaring issue in camp that desperately needs to get cleaned up, as recently pointed out by Cleveland.com’s Mary Kay Cabot.
Cabot recently called in to The Ken Carman Show with Anthony Lima to discuss the barrage of interceptions Watson has been throwing in practice. He is well into the double digits in camp after throwing two picks in consecutive days on Wednesday and Thursday and Cabot reiterated that this is a significant issue that won’t help him in this QB competition.
“I think the other thing that has to be taken into account is Deshaun can’t get back into throwing interceptions. He threw two interceptions yesterday. Albeit he was working with the second team, but he did throw two more interceptions yesterday. Emmanuel McNeil-Warren dropped a third. If he is doing things like that today, that’s not going to be helpful to him in this quarterback competition,” Cabot said.
"I think the other thing that has to be taken into account is, Deshaun can't get back into throwing interceptions…"
➡️ @MaryKayCabot w/ @KenCarman and @SportsBoyTony on the key factors moving forward for the #Browns QB competition, Deshaun Watson https://t.co/k5fspI9Xtn pic.twitter.com/Wjx2DrSUM0
— 92.3 The Fan (@923TheFan) August 20, 2026
Another issue is the fact that Watson could be walking into a war zone when he takes the field in Cleveland. It’s likely he’s going to get an unfavorable reaction from the fans and no matter how well he plays, it still might not be enough to get the fans back on his side.
All he can do is put his head down and continue to work. He lost a fumble in the preseason opener, but he didn’t throw a pick, and hopefully he is getting all of those out of his system in camp.
He may win the job, but if the interceptions persist, he could be on a short leash. Shedeur Sanders could take this job from him after Week 1, which would continue the tradition of the Browns starting multiple quarterbacks just about every year at this point.
There is a lot of talent on this team and plenty of excitement about what is being built, but Watson has the ability to tear it all down right away. The interceptions have to get cleaned up or this season will go off the rails quickly if he can’t leave that issue in camp.
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