Saturday is just the latest important day in the Cleveland Browns’ ongoing quarterback competition. Shedeur Sanders will start the second game of the preseason against the Buffalo Bills, even though he won’t be playing with much of the first-team offense.
After starting last week’s opener against the Chicago Bears, Deshaun Watson is set to begin the third quarter. Even though some players believe they have an idea of who the Week 1 starter will be, how each of them plays against the Bills could have a great effect, or none at all, on Todd Monken’s final call.
Sanders has done an admirable job of extending the competition this far, but it has to end sometime, and Monken recently revealed when the Browns will likely make their QB decision, and it will be sooner rather than later.
“I do not anticipate the quarterback decision going past early in next week,” Monken said.
"I do not anticipate the QB decision going past early of next week." @Browns head coach Todd Monken on the official pregame show on the University Hospitals Browns Radio Network pic.twitter.com/L0t3udenJX
— 92.3 The Fan (@923TheFan) August 22, 2026
Coming out of this game, the Browns have a quick turnaround with their final preseason contest on Thursday against the New England Patriots. Monken likely wants to have a QB1 in place not only to get it over with, but also to protect his Week 1 starter from injury by keeping him out of that game. It’s very possible that the backup, whoever that is, would not play, either.
With a collection of data and observations dating all the way back to April, Monken should have more than enough information to make a decision. It can be seen that it is a good thing for the team that Watson and Sanders have performed well enough to make the assignment a difficult one, but it also could be said that neither one has done enough to show they clearly deserve the job.
Sanders is expected to play all of the first half on Saturday. Against the Bears, he completed a couple of impressive downfield throws to backup receivers but also had an ugly interception, which he said slipped out of his hands.
It is unclear what he would have to do in this game to earn the job, but he certainly could lose it with a poor performance.
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