The Cleveland Browns plan to return quarterback Deshaun Watson to the starting role for Sunday’s home game against the Houston Texans.
Head coach Todd Monken said Monday that he wasn’t ready to make the move official, leaving the door open for another Shedeur Sanders start.
“I really haven’t thought through it other than getting through the tape,” Monken said. “Each week we put the best players on the field that give us a chance to win.”
Monken said he was “proud of” Sanders, given the limited reps the backup received in practice prior to last week’s 23-22 overtime loss to the New Orleans Saints.
Watson went 5-3 in the first eight games but was inactive when Cleveland played at New Orleans on Sunday with Sanders in the QB1 role. Watson was removed from concussion protocol on Saturday, but the team kept Sanders as the starter, likely due to Watson’s limited practice during the week.
Sanders passed for 297 yards and two touchdowns for the Browns, including a game-tying drive in the fourth quarter to force overtime. He completed 19 of 31 passes.
Watson has led five fourth-quarter, game-winning drives for the Browns in 2026.
Monken did not address questions about whether Sanders had done enough to remain the starter following the loss to the Saints.
“I’m not getting into quarterback. If we want to talk about Shedeur, we can talk about Shedeur,” Monken said.
Watson returned from two Achilles surgeries to the starting role in Monken’s first season, beating Sanders in a head-to-head competition spanning the offseason through the start of training camp.
Monken said Sanders did plenty of good things in his first start of 2026.
“I’m really proud of him. He wasn’t perfect. I wasn’t perfect,” Monken said. “But for a guy that really hasn’t taken snaps with the 1s in 10 weeks … to come in there and continue to battle, really, really proud of him. He’s really matured.”
The Browns acquired Watson from the Texans in March 2022, parting with first-round picks in 2022, 2023 and 2024 to address a position that has been a challenge for the franchise since returning to the NFL in 1999.
Watson signed a massive, fully guaranteed $230 million contract but an off-field scandal led to a suspension at the start of his time in Cleveland and injuries have been a constant.
Until 2026, he had not played more than seven games in a season with the Browns.
–Field Level Media
