In the 2025 NFL Draft, the Cleveland Browns selected highly-touted former University of Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders in the fifth round. Before the draft began, Sanders (son of Pro Football Hall of Fame corner Deion Sanders) was expected to be a first-round pick. He then unexpectedly fell to Day 3. After sitting on the bench for half the season, Sanders finally got an opportunity to play in Week 11 and started seven games.
As the 2026 season gets closer, most NFL talking heads believe that either Sanders or veteran Deshaun Watson will start for the Browns.
Should Watson win the job, Ultimate Cleveland Sports Show analyst Adam Gerstenhaber noted the decision would tell him what new coach Todd Monken thinks of Sanders’ ability.
“If Deshaun Watson starts, it tells me all I need to know about what Todd Monken thinks of Shedeur Sanders,” said Gerstenhaber during a recent broadcast. “The only reason he’s gonna start is Todd Monken’s like, ‘I can’t have this guy [Sanders] run my offense. He can’t do it.”
Sanders went 3-4 as a starter last season and completed 120 passes for 1,400 yards, seven touchdowns, and 10 interceptions, and added a touchdown rushing. Those stats remarkably led to a Pro Bowl nod, only because numerous AFC QBs couldn’t attend the all-star event.
Monken arrives for a second stint in Cleveland (he was the offensive coordinator in 2019) after successful runs with the Georgia Bulldogs and Baltimore Ravens. The coach worked with Lamar Jackson between 2023 and 2025, helping the signal-caller win a second NFL MVP award in 2023, as well as Pro Bowl and first-team All-Pro nods in 2023 and 2024, and become the league’s passer rating leader in ’24.
Trying to choose a field general for a franchise that desperately needs a QB after winning two national titles in Georgia and working with Jackson will test Monken’s patience. As Gerstenhaber alluded to, choosing Watson over Sanders doesn’t necessarily mean that Watson’s the better quarterback. He’s just the lesser of two evils.
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