There are still many months to go before the start of the 2026 NFL season, but it’s anybody’s guess at this point who is going to be the starting quarterback for the Cleveland Browns. For the past few months, it looked like Shedeur Sanders was the leader in the clubhouse, but the momentum sounds like it is turning back in Deshaun Watson’s favor over the past few weeks.
Former Browns receiver Jarvis Landry spent four years in Cleveland, but he was actually fortunate enough to have one quarterback the whole time in Baker Mayfield. Unfortunately, things have been dicey since Mayfield was shipped out of town, but Landry believes there’s a clear answer to the question at hand.
During a recent episode of Deebo & Joe with James Harrison and Joe Haden, Landry stopped by to discuss Cleveland’s QB situation. He believes this is Watson’s job to lose.
“I think it’s Deshaun’s job to lose. I think with the cap spend and the risk that we put into this investment, if this doesn’t work out for Deshaun in Cleveland this year, who’s picking him up?” said Landry.
Landry isn’t the first former player to have this take, and there’s a lot of smoke brewing for there not to be some fire. Once owner Jimmy Haslam walked back his take of the Watson trade being a swing and a miss, it was a major sign that things were going to start heading in this direction.
Cleveland keeps restructuring Watson’s contract to ease the pain of his massive cap hits, and Haslam sounds like he is ready to see some return on his investment. It’s understandable after years of so many people calling this the worst trade and worst contract in the history of sports, but if Watson can dial things back to his Houston Texans days and look like the young franchise QB he used to be, he still has an opportunity to rewrite his story.
If Watson truly does have the advantage in this QB competition, it will have an interesting ripple effect throughout the organization, including the fans. If he does get named the QB1, it could be his final shot to prove he can still be the guy.
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