The Cleveland Browns quarterback decision has been dissected from nearly every angle since Deshaun Watson was named the Week 1 starter over Shedeur Sanders, but former NFL quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick brought a different kind of scrutiny to the debate. Rather than focusing on the emotional fallout from Watson’s comments about Browns fans, Fitzpatrick walked through his evaluation and explained why he believed Watson was always the more likely choice, regardless of the controversy that followed his press conference.
“Deshaun is more ready, and the reason I always thought Deshaun was going to be the guy even after his comments was it’s very easy to bench Deshaun after the first couple of games and go Shedeur. If it was the other way around, you almost can’t do it, can’t go that way. I first went back and I watched Deshaun, and then I watched Shedeur. The hard part is you put on the film, and there’s things that Deshaun has really regressed at and has not done well, one of them is the deep ball. It was painful to watch, but the thing that he does is he knows how to do an operation in the NFL. When you watch Shedeur, he makes more plays downfield, but rarely is he playing on time. Deshaun Watson’s delivering it on time and he’s putting it at the right spot more often than not,” Fitzpatrick said.
“I first went back and I watched Deshaun, and then I watched Shedeur… the hard part is you put on the film and there’s things that Deshaun has really regressed at”
Fitz breaks down what he sees in each of the Browns QBs and why he thinks they ended up going with Watson👇 pic.twitter.com/2FGsfru7CZ
— Fitz & Whit (@fitzandwhit) August 26, 2026
Starting Watson gives Todd Monken the option to pivot to Sanders in a much cleaner way. Reversing that sequence would have forced Monken into a far messier situation, benching Sanders in favor of a quarterback who had just publicly aired frustration with the fan base, a scenario that risks compounding tension rather than settling it.
On the technical side, Fitzpatrick did not shy away from calling out a real decline in Watson’s game, specifically citing his diminished deep ball accuracy as something that stood out negatively on tape. What tipped the scales in Watson’s favor, according to Fitzpatrick, was his command of the offense as a whole, described as knowing how to operate within an NFL system, delivering throws on time and to the correct location with far more consistency than Sanders currently shows.
Whether Watson can sustain that level of operational command once the games start counting remains the question of the season, but Fitzpatrick’s breakdown suggests the coaching staff had sound football reasoning behind the decision, separate from anything tied to the controversy that surrounded it.
NEXT: Analyst Names One Trait That Could Decide Shedeur Sanders' Future
