The Cleveland Browns’ rookie class is an enticing one, and the organization has to do everything it can to ensure that a few foundational pieces emerge from the group to help the team out of the abyss.
Two of the most important rookies are the quarterbacks Cleveland selected in the 2025 NFL Draft, Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders.
One of them reportedly has been taken under Deshaun Watson’s wing, which will be a controversial bit of information for a lot of fans.
Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com recently shared that despite ownership turning its back on Watson, he reportedly is mentoring Sanders.
“Watson, famously dubbed a ‘big swing and a miss’ by Browns owner Jimmy Haslam at the NFL Annual Meetings in March, has also taken Sanders under his wing to help him come up the learning curve quickly, and it’s been working. Sanders’ Hall of Fame dad, Deion, publicly supported Watson when some Browns fans cheered while he was down on the field in tears with his retorn Achilles Oct. 20 against the [Cincinnati] Bengals, and Watson is only too happy to repay the favor,” Cabot wrote.
Given Watson’s well-documented off-field issues, combined with Sanders already making lesser off-field headlines despite being on the team for just a couple of months, this might not be the relationship Browns fans can get excited about.
It’s a bit surprising that Watson is taking any sort of active role with the current roster, as Haslam’s comments indicated that the team might just be paying him to go away at this point.
Sanders is in the midst of a four-man quarterback competition to replace Watson, who likely won’t play in 2025 and might never suit up for the Browns again.
Hopefully, this mentorship works out because Cleveland needs a new franchise quarterback.
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