The Cleveland Browns had their preseason opener against the Chicago Bears on Saturday. It didn’t go perfectly for Cleveland, but it was their first exhibition contest of the season.
Veteran Deshaun Watson drew the start under center and played the first half of Saturday’s loss. At first glance, Watson played well, but analyst Shannon Sharpe doesn’t believe his performance was as good as the stats showed.
“Yeah, he was 11-15, but everything seemed like it was a damn checkdown,” said Sharpe.
The Big 3 react to the Browns preseason opener as all eyes are on the QB competition between Deshaun Watson and Shedeur Sanders 👀@ShannonSharpe | @ochocinco | @TheJoeJohnson7 | #Nightcap pic.twitter.com/7NLmwfC0No
— Nightcap (@NightcapShow_) August 16, 2026
Overall, Watson completed 11-of-15 passing attempts for 126 yards during the first half of this contest. He led the Browns to their only two scoring drives of the game. One of scores was a 14-yard rushing touchdown by rookie wide receiver KC Concepcion. It seemed like a very strong start by Watson outside of the lost fumble in Chicago territory.
The stats show it was a solid game from Watson, but Sharpe isn’t buying the stat sheet. Instead, Sharpe is upset that a majority of Watson’s passes were checkdowns or short-yardage passing attempts. Sharpe does have a point, but that shouldn’t take away from Watson’s performance.
Watson is running the plays that he is given, and Sharpe has no idea whether those were the designed targets in the play or not. It’s also Watson’s first taste of football since the 2024 season, so the Browns likely wanted to ease him into action.
The 30-year-old is coming off a significant Achilles injury, so it’s not shocking to see the Browns easing him back into the mix. As the preseason goes on, fans should expect the Browns to open up the playbook with Watson going forward. This was likely just the basics to see if Watson can still command an offense and lead them down the field.
The veteran vastly outplayed both Shedeur Sanders and Dillon Gabriel during Saturday’s game. It was only the preseason opener, but Watson is probably the favorite for the starting gig after that performance. The expectation is that head coach Todd Monken is going to draw out this quarterback competition. Hopefully, the Browns will open up the playbook more during their second preseason contest.
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