Deshaun Watson has not played in a game since October 2024 due to a torn Achilles.
But he’s still under contract with the Browns in 2026 and at this point, it appears Cleveland is ready to give him another shot at being the starting quarterback.
To put it mildly, Watson has been ineffective since the Browns traded form him in the 2022 offseason. Between injuries and suspensions, he’s played just 19 games since the trade, completing 61.2 percent of his passes for 3,365 yards with 19 touchdowns and 12 interceptions.
It’s a far cry from the elite player Watson appeared to be during the 2020 season, when he finished with a league-leading 4,823 passing yards, 33 touchdowns, seven interceptions, and a 70.2 percent completion rate. That was also before Watson was suspended for sexual misconduct during massage therapy sessions.
Still, because Watson has played at a high level before, new head coach Todd Monken said on Wednesday that he’s interested in seeing whether Watson can get back to that level of performance.
“I think anytime that you have a player that at one time has exhibited the skillset at an elite level, I think you’re always going to give them the benefit of the doubt that somehow we might be able to get that out of him again,” Monken said in his press conference at the scouting combine. “And I think that’s how you should look at every player. I’ve said that. You guys have heard me say it. I’m going to let it play out.
“I think it’d be completely unfair just like it would be in any classroom setting — be it a history exam — and all the students walk in, and before they’re actually given the exam, you give them a grade. Well, how would you give them a grade? Based on male, female, race, how they look, how they’re dressed? I think that’s unfair.”
Effectively, Monken was saying that he’d like to work with Watson and see what’s there for himself. But that does’t mean he’s going to completely disregard the tape.
“Now you’re going to have some preconceived notions, obviously, because we have prior evidence, but I don’t decide who plays,” Monken said. “The players decide who plays. I’ve never decided who plays.”
There’s also the possibility that Monken may provide a fresh perspective that could raise Watson’s performance.
“You’ll have to ask him. I don’t know how he’ll view that,” Monken said. “I know that I’m excited to work with him. I’m excited to work with all of our players on the roster. That’s what you’re paid to do as a coach. Just like [G.M.] Andrew [Berry is] going to trust what we call on fourth-and-1, I’m going to trust him that we’re going to put an elite roster together that allows us to build a consistent winner.”
Shedeur Sanders finished last year as the Browns’ starting quarterback.
Could he keep that role for the start of the 2026 season?
“Sure he can,” Cleveland head coach Todd Monken said at the scouting combine on Wednesday. “I think what you see is elite playmaking ability — that’s in him. You’ve seen it, we’ve seen it. You saw it in college. You saw it on tape last year. Sure, there’s a ways to go, but what rookie isn’t? I mean, what first-year player doesn’t have a long way to go?
“So, I’m excited to get started with him and all of our quarterbacks and all of our players.”
Sanders is one of three quarterbacks under contract for 2026, with the others being fellow 2025 draftee Dillon Gabriel and Deshaun Watson. Monken noted that the Browns will do their “due diligence” in potentially bringing in another QB to compete for the role.
Monken characterized Cleveland’s current quarterback situation as an open competition. But he noted that he’d prefer to have the starting role settled by the time training camp starts.
“You would hope that that’s the case,” Monken said. “You would hope that by the time you get to training camp that the reps you’re giving to a quarterback is for your starter. Whether we get to that place, I don’t know. That will be determined in the offseason as part of it, just another part of the piece.”
In eight games with seven starts as a rookie, Sanders completed 59.6 percent of his passes for 1,400 yards with seven touchdowns and 10 interceptions.
Shedeur Sanders? Deshaun Watson? Someone else?
When it comes to the Browns’ quarterback position, it’s entirely unclear who will be on the field to start the season in September. The club finished 2025 with Sanders, but Watson is getting healthier after missing the 2025 season with a torn Achilles. The club has Dillon Gabriel under contract for 2026, too.
And then there’s also free agency and the draft to potentially add to that spot.
While Sanders and Watson would appear to be the top two options right now, the Browns know they have plenty of time to figure out their QB1.
“You know what, right now, it’s what, February 24? We don’t have to make that decision anytime soon,” General Manager Andrew Berry said at the scouting combine on Tuesday. “I think any player that we have in that room, we would expect to compete to earn the role. [Sanders and Watson] would be no different.”
While Berry acknowledged new head coach Todd Monken is probably better equipped to answer what Sanders must do to earn the starting job, he did note that Sanders’ first job once the offseason program begins will be to learn the new offense.
“I think the biggest thing that we want to see from Shedeur is just continued growth,” Berry said. “I think he grew a lot from start [No.] 1 to start [No.] 7. I think certainly playing more efficiently, not putting the ball in harm’s way as much would be important while maintaining the ability to produce out of structure and generate explosive plays.”
Watson will also need to learn the new offense, but he’s expected to be in a healthier place after missing all of last season. He did get back on the practice field late in the year, though he was not activated to the 53-man roster.
“Deshaun’s been working really hard,” Berry said. “He’s been working his tail off. Like I said, we’re excited to go into April with all of our players across the roster because competition is important.”
Unconventionally, the Browns selected Gabriel in the third round of last year’s draft before swooping back in to get Sanders in the fifth round. While some might think that could take Cleveland out of picking another QB in 2026, don’t rule it out.
When asked about potentially drafting another QB to give the Browns three players with under two years of experience, Berry said, “I wouldn’t put any restraint on it.”
The Browns are adding another veteran coach to their staff.
Per Jeremy Fowler of ESPN, Cleveland is hiring Dom Capers as an assistant.
Capers, the former head coach of the Panthers and Texans, had been back with Carolina serving as senior defensive assistant since 2023.
He’d recently served in that same role — senior defensive assistant — for the Jaguars (2019), Vikings (2020), Lions (2021), and Broncos (2022).
Capers was the Panthers’ first head coach, going 30-34 from 1995-1998. He was then the Texans’ first coach from 2002-2005, going 18-46.
The Browns have a new head coach and defensive coordinator for the 2026 season, but linebacker Carson Schwesinger isn’t expecting things to look much different on his side of the ball.
Jim Schwartz led a defense that allowed the fourth-fewest yards in the league in 2025 while helping Schwesinger win defensive rookie of the year and Myles Garrett win defensive player of the year, but left the team after they opted to hire Todd Monken as their head coach instead of promoting him to that job. Mike Rutenberg is now running the defense and Schwesinger said on NFL Network that he believes things will be remaining pretty much the same in terms of how Cleveland’s defense will be deployed.
“One of the big things for us is we wanted to keep a lot of the scheme the same,” Schwesinger said Friday. “So in terms of that, I don’t expect there to be a lot of changes. For me, I’m just ready to go in there and kind of just build off what we did last year and really keep the defense rolling and get in there ready to work and learn whatever I’ve got to learn now and keep doing what we were doing.”
The defense wasn’t enough to help the Browns avoid a 5-12 record in 2025 and it sounds like the bigger focus this offseason will be improving the offense that stymied the team so often last year.
