Now that the preseason is over for the Cleveland Browns, they can turn all of their attention toward Week 1 of the regular season and the Sept. 13 opener against the Jacksonville Jaguars. They can do so knowing that, for better or worse, Deshaun Watson will be their starting quarterback.
Neither he nor Shedeur Sanders played in the 37-13 victory against the New England Patriots on Thursday, with head coach Todd Monken believing he had seen enough from them in their drawn-out quarterback competition. Watson was named the starter on Monday, and the decision has been severely questioned ever since.
Former Browns player Andrew Hawkins recently shared his honest opinion on the starting QB decision, and, like many others, said he doesn’t believe Monken made the right call.
“I don’t. I get Deshaun Watson has played a lot of football in the league, and, in some ways, you can kind of see the floor. We’ve seen the bad version of Deshaun Watson. We’ve seen the great version of Deshaun Watson. I know Shedeur Sanders might be a little feast or famine, but in Deshaun Watson’s tenure as a Browns quarterback, it has been famine or famine. That sounds mean, but it’s the truth. It just hasn’t lived up to the contract that we signed him under in Cleveland. For Shedeur, he is young. Yeah, it’s gotten ugly at times, but there’s been a lot of glimpses where he does have something here,” Hawkins said.
"Shedeur Sanders might be a little feast or famine, but in Deshaun Watson's tenure as a Browns quarterback, it has been famine or famine."@Hawk gives his take on Todd Monken's QB decision in Cleveland. pic.twitter.com/dol7iku8d7
— Jim Rome (@jimrome) August 27, 2026
Monken’s reasoning for the controversial decision was made worse by its timing, coming after Watson gave a petulant reaction to the media after getting booed by his home fans when entering the second preseason game last Saturday against the Buffalo Bills. It did not help that Watson also played poorly, drawing consistent boos throughout his brief appearance.
Hawkins explained what he thought was Monken’s reasoning for making the choice that he did. The former wide receiver said he believes it was the coach’s call alone and it was not influenced by any of the higher-ups in the organization.
He pointed out that Monken, at 60 years old, has waited his entire career for his first NFL head coaching opportunity, and he is not going to spend his one chance doing something he does not fully believe in. Now, one can reasonably argue that Monken is placing too much emphasis on what is happening before the snap — in the huddle and at the line of scrimmage — instead of what happens after it, but he clearly believes that Watson is best suited to run his offense the way he wants, and therefore gives the Browns a better chance to win games.
Maybe if Sanders continues his reported development, he can catch up to Watson in that regard sometime this season, but for now, the veteran is the coach’s preference.
NEXT: Todd Monken Speaks Out About Difficult Browns QB Room Decision
