The Cleveland Browns quarterback competition has been framed almost entirely around who wins the starting job, but ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler raised a different question that Browns fans probably have not considered as seriously. What happens to Shedeur Sanders if he actually loses the competition to Deshaun Watson? It is a scenario that has not gotten much attention given how much momentum Sanders carried into this offseason, but Fowler suggested it is worth thinking through.
Fowler raised the possibility that a lost competition could eventually lead to Sanders playing elsewhere.
“The Shedeur Sanders factor where, if he doesn’t get the job, is he the right backup for your team? I don’t know the answer to that. Maybe he is, and he is a young player, so he’s got some time. I still go back to he was a 5th round pick. I think if Shedeur were to lose the job, it would be interesting to see how he handles that, and if the Browns feel like maybe there’s some tension there, maybe they do facilitate a trade,” Fowler said.
A trade involving Sanders this soon into his career feels unlikely for a number of practical reasons.
The biggest factor working in Sanders’ favor if he were to lose the competition is Watson’s well documented history with injuries. Watson has not made it through a full, healthy season in years, and counting on him to stay on the field for all 17 games in 2026 would be a significant bet against recent history. That reality alone makes keeping Sanders on the roster as the backup an obvious decision rather than a complicated one. If Watson goes down at any point, Sanders would likely be thrust right back into meaningful snaps regardless of how training camp shakes out.
There is also the matter of what Sanders showed in his rookie season. He went 3-4 as a starter and threw for 1,400 yards in year 1.
Fowler is right to raise the question, since it is a legitimate storyline worth tracking as training camp approaches. But given Watson’s track record and the value of having a young quarterback ready to step in at a moment’s notice, trading Sanders this offseason would be a difficult decision for Cleveland to justify no matter how the quarterback competition plays out.
The competition itself remains the most important storyline in Berea this summer. But Fowler’s comments are a reminder that even the resolution of that battle will not be the end of the story.
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