Two days after he was lustily booed by hometown fans, Deshaun Watson has been handed the reins to the Cleveland Browns’ starting quarterback job for Week 1 of the 2026 season
Cleveland named Watson the starter over Shedeur Sanders for its game against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sept. 13, the team announced
For a variety of reasons, it is likely to be an unpopular decision, easily the most important so far for Todd Monken in his first year as head coach
“[I] took in the whole body of work over the course of offseason to training camp to games, the joint practice,” Monken said Monday, “and ultimately felt like, to start the season on the road, Deshaun gave us the best chance to move the ball and score points. That’s really what it’s about
“I felt that way going into the last game but wasn’t sure. After we talked as a staff and after we re-looked at everything, we’re gonna go in that direction.”
Watson said Monday that he had “no idea” he was going to be named the starter until Monken told him earlier that morning
“This is what I’ve been working for for two years, to show that I’m capable of being the starter for one of the 32 organizations in this league,” Watson said. “It felt good and a lot of excitement, but it comes with a lot of work, too. There’s a lot of work, there’s a lot of challenges that I have to continue to overcome, and I just got to continue to work on achieving those victories each and every day so I’m ready and prepared.”
Monken added that Cleveland does not anticipate Watson’s status as starting QB to be a “week-by-week thing.”
“I think Shedeur has done a great job, come a long ways, and we’re excited about his future,” Monken added, “but this is not a week-to-week decision.”
Neither Watson nor Sanders will play in Cleveland’s preseason finale against New England on Thursday
