Sanders, Watson alternating first-team practice reps

Watson was sidelined last week against the Saints with a brain injury. He’ll back in time to face his former team as the Browns push for postseason contention in the competitive NFC North. Shedeur Sanders will revert to his backup role in Week 10 after throwing for 297 yards and two touchdowns against the Saints in an overtime loss. Watson will be a borderline fantasy option against a pass-funnel Texans defense that has allowed the third most air yards per game this season.

ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reported earlier in the day that Deshaun Watson was expected to return as the starter, but Monken didn’t rush to name a starter when questioned on Monday. Monken praised Shedeur Sanders for his performance in Sunday’s start against the Saints, but said he hasn’t really “thought through” who will start in Week 10 against the Texans. It’s hard to imagine Monken handing the job over to Sanders after a start that was mostly forgettable until the final five minutes of regulation, even if Watson hasn’t been overly impressive this season. We would still expect Watson to get the nod against Houston, but Sanders’ late-game performance won’t do anything to quiet those looking/hoping for a change.

This shouldn’t surprise anyone after Shedeur Sanders failed to make the most of his spot start in Week 9 against the Saints. Sanders and the Browns’ offense stalled through the first three quarters of Sunday’s game before a late 64-yard touchdown pass to KC Concepcion gave the Browns their first touchdown of the day. An impressive catch-and-run score by Harold Fannin in overtime gave Sanders his second touchdown pass on the day, but the 39-yard score came on a pass, in which Fannin generated 37 yards after the catch. Watson has struggled mightily at times this season, but Sanders didn’t do enough to unseat him in what was a plus matchup against a bad defense. Now out of concussion protocol, Watson will suit up in a “revenge game” against his former team next week, where he will profile as a low-end QB2.

Sanders added 10 carries for 28 yards. He struggled to get much of anything going for three quarters before finding the big one in the fourth. Sanders threw a bomb to KC Concepcion, who tracked the ball well and then outran two defenders for a 64-yard score. Sanders’ second touchdown came in overtime on a grown-man catch-and-run from Harold Fannin. Cleveland opted for a two-point conversion to go for the win, but Sanders couldn’t connect with Denzel Boston after being flushed out of the pocket. It took a while, but Sanders at least looked like a viable backup in this contest, which wasn’t the case at any point last year. He’ll return to his QB2 gig in Week 10, keeping him off the fantasy radar for now.

Watson cleared the league’s concussion protocol over the weekend but was not prepared as the starter throughout the week. Shedeur Sanders will get his first start of the season and Dillon Gabriel will back him up.

Watson returned to practice on Friday for a limited session and cleared the league’s protocol over the weekend. Still, after preparing Shedeur Sanders to start throughout the week, head coach Todd Monken decided not to throw a curveball at his own team on game day. Sanders will start and Dillon Gabriel will back him up. Watson has rebounded this year, but the lows are still staggeringly low. He took eight sacks in a blowout loss to the Steelers last week. If Sanders plays well today, Monken will at least have something to think about ahead of Week 10.

Head coach Todd Monken said Watson will be questionable for Sunday’s game, but has already said Shedeur Sanders will make his first start of the season. Watson missed Wednesday’s and Thursday’s practices but was upgraded to a limited participant on Friday, although he has yet to clear concussion protocol. The decision to start Sanders likely stems from him working with the first-team offense during the week and the unlikelihood of Watson clearing protocol in time for Sunday’s game.

Sanders will draw the start as Deshaun Watson (concussion) has yet to clear protocol in time to be ready for Sunday’s game. Interestingly, Watson is still expected to be listed as questionable, per Monken, but Sanders will draw the start. We are assuming this decision is based on Sanders taking first-team reps after Watson missed each of the first two days of practice, but this is a nice opportunity for Sanders to show whatever growth he has made since a tough rookie season in which he threw for 1,440 yards, seven touchdowns, and 10 interceptions in eight games played. He’ll be on the low-end QB2 radar on the road against the Saints, who rank 16th in fantasy points allowed to opposing QBs this season.

Watson has not practiced this week due to concussion symptoms he has been dealing with since Week 8’s loss to the Steelers. Unless he surprisingly clears concussion protocol this week, Watson will miss Week 9, paving the way for Shedeur Sanders to make his first start of the season. We will have official word on Watson’s status in a few hours, but at this point, it would be surprising if he does start.

Cleveland’s Mary Kay Cabot indicated yesterday that Shedeur Sanders is seemingly slated to start in Week 9 against the Saints. If that ends up being the case, and Sanders can play well enough, it might be possible for him to steal the starting job from Watson this week. Sanders would be QB2-viable against the Saints.