Browns coach Todd Monken said it was “cool” and “awesome” to watch Deshaun Watson play on Saturday. It was Watson’s first game of any kind since Oct. 20, 2024.
The quarterback, who is competing with Shedeur Sanders for the starting job, was 11-of-15 for 126 yards and lost a fumble in the first half. The Browns scored 10 points while Watson was in the game.
He may have won the starting job.
“It goes back to what Todd and the organization and coaching staff want,” Watson said. “Every opportunity I get, I want to continue to improve and take one step forward. Every day will be a challenge, but that’s the whole thing about the NFL. It’s a business, and every day is a challenge.”
Watson has played only 19 games since the Browns acquired him in a 2022 offseason trade with the Texans. He served an 11-game suspension in 2022, underwent season-ending shoulder surgery in 2023 and twice tore his Achilles, which kept him out 10 games in 2024 and all of 2025.
Watson might be the only person who hasn’t doubted his future.
“I don’t think that’s anything I doubted in myself,” Watson said. “That’s why I’ve worked hard these last two years to get back to that. I had some challenges with injuries and a suspension. Now being able to get a full offseason and work my way back up — you know, it takes time. But at the same time, I don’t doubt myself in any way that I can’t play at a high level.”
Watson, who turns 31 in September, said he had no problem with his Achilles. He experienced brief numbness in his forearm during the game.
“It was just my forearm and elbow,” Watson said. “Just a little numbness, but it went away as the game continued to go on. It was just a little funny bone thing.”
Browns Clips
The Bears scored 24 points and put up 235 yards in the second half of their 34-10 preseason win over the Browns on Saturday. Head coach Ben Johnson revealed after the game that wide receivers coach/assistant head coach Antwaan Randle El called the plays in the second half.
“Has anybody ever had a better first outing than Antwaan Randle El?” quarterback Tyson Bagent said, via Dan Wiederer of TheAthletic.com. “That’s just who he is. He’s always prepared. He knows the ins and outs of the playbook. So really, it was not surprising — at least for us on the sideline.”
Randle El, who turns 47 next week, impressed Johnson and the quarterbacks with the way he handled the call sheet.
“He did a phenomenal job,” Johnson said. “He was part of the quarterbacks’ meeting [Friday] night, and we were talking about what was on the call sheet and their favorites and all that. I think it was a phenomenal experience for him. I know our guys really rallied around that.”
Declan Doyle was the Bears’ offensive coordinator last year, but Johnson called the plays. Thus, Johnson allowed Doyle to leave for Baltimore to become the Ravens’ offensive coordinator and play-caller this season.
The Bears believe Randle El is a rising star in the NFL coaching ranks and destined to run things in the not-too-distant future.
“I know he’s going to be a head coach,” veteran quarterback Case Keenum said. “I think his demeanor in front of the team, his leadership qualities, are top-notch. Some of the best I’ve been around. His relatability to players? I mean, it’s the fact that he’s been there, done that with just about everything. And there’s no, for lack of a better word, ‘coachspeak’ to him. It’s all real.”
Randle El, a former NFL star receiver, followed Johnson from Detroit to Chicago when Johnson was hired by the Bears in 2025.
Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson made his first appearance in any kind of game since tearing his Achilles during the 2024 season when he started Saturday’s game against the Bears.
Watson played the entire first half and went 11-of-15 for 126 yards and the Browns scored 10 points while he was in the game. Watson also ran three times, including a sneak, but lost a fumble and the offense had a delay of game as well as a timeout with the clock running down.
After the game, head coach Todd Monken acknowledged at a press conference that “there’s a lot to clean up” including two other turnovers but had a mostly positive reaction to Watson’s return to the lineup.
“It was awesome,” Monken said. “It was so cool to watch him play. I get all of the frustration — fans, himself. But for him to come back and work as he did is an unbelievable credit to him. And then to go out there — he was having fun today and that is so cool. I thought he really functioned at a high level. We don’t want to be taking timeouts, we sure as heck can’t take delay of games. But it was fun watching him play and watching us put the next step forward and see where we are at.”
Shedeur Sanders accounted for one of the other turnovers with an interception, but Monken said the plan to start him in the team’s next preseason game remains in place. A decision on Week 1 could come at that point and Watson got his best chance to make his case on Saturday.
After quarterback Deshaun Watson had a so-so first half against the Bears, throwing for 126 yards, Shedeur Sanders also had a middling performance in the second half of the Browns’ first preseason game.
Sanders finished his outing 6-of-11 passing for 79 yards with an interception.
While he was slated to play just the third quarter, Sanders’ playing time extended into the fourth period with a possession that started late in the third. The Browns did not score in any of Sanders’ three series, though they came close on one of them.
Sanders’ best throw came on third-and-13 on his first drive. With pressure coming right at him, the quarterback stood in the pocket and fired a downfield strike to Luke Floriea for a 35-yard gain. But Cleveland did not cash in with points on that possession, with a fourth-and-1 run stuffed at the 5 for no gain for a turnover on downs.
Sanders’ last throw was his worst, as he airmailed a pass over the middle that was intercepted by Beanie Bishop early in the foruth quarter.
While Watson got the first reps in Cleveland’s preseason opener, Sanders is set to be the first quarterback up for next weekend’s matchup with Buffalo.
Additionally, rookie cornerback Michael Coats Jr. — who had an interception in the first half — was declared out with an ankle injury.
In competition with Shedeur Sanders, Deshaun Watson started the first preseason game for the Browns on Saturday against the Bears and played the entire first half.
The results were middling.
Watson ended his two-quarter outing 11-of-15 passing for 126 yards. The Browns scored a field goal and a touchdown with him in. But Watson was not particularly impressive, at times looking uncomfortable in the pocket and firing inaccurate passes. He was also strip-sacked on a fourth-and-2 from the Chicago 40 as the Browns were trying to extend a drive early in the second quarter.
Most of Watson’s yardage came on a 43-yard screen pass to Dylan Sampson late in the first period. He attempted just one pass over 10 yards in the air.
Head coach Todd Monken mentioned to reporters during the week that the Browns would do everything they could to get a two-minute drill, and they had that opportunity when rookie corner Michael Coats picked off Tyson Bagent late in the second quarter. But Cleveland did nothing with it, as Watson threw a pair of incompletions on second and third down on the ensuing possession.
Rookie first-round receiver KC Concepcion showed explosiveness and versatility, returning a punt 28 yards, catching three passes for 27 yards, and taking in an end around for a 14-yard touchdown. Fellow rookie Denzel Boston also moved the chains with a 15-yard catch on the left side.
Sanders is set to play the third quarter for Cleveland. He’s also set to start next week’s preseason contest against Buffalo.
When two quarterbacks are competing for one job, it’s often perceived that the player getting the first crack as to any of the various checkpoints has the edge.
And so it’s fair to wonder whether the decision to give Deshaun Watson the start in Cleveland’s preseason opener, with Shedeur Sanders getting the start in Week 2, means that Watson has the edge.
There’s another way to analyze this development. The preseason opener is a road game. For Week 2, the Browns are at home.
Watson remains unpopular among many, if not most, Browns fans. If his preseason start had happened before a pro-Browns crowd, there may have been plenty of anti-Watson voices making themselves heard.
By getting his preseason start in Chicago, Watson will be able to operate without any such noise.
But it also raises the stakes for Deshaun. If he’s not crisp and clean and clearly better than Shedeur, Sanders will walk out of the tunnel to a loud ovation for the Week 2 game against the Bills, with maximum support from the fans. And it could fuel Shedeur’s effort to finally seize the job.
The overriding problem for the Browns is that neither guy has run away with the competition. On Saturday, Watson gets a chance to make his case without having Browns fans on his case. If he doesn’t, the stage will be set for Shedeur to deliver the kind of performance that will make him the Week 1 starter.
Of course, winning the starting job to start the season (whether it’s Watson or Sanders) may also include securing the reality of being the first guy to be benched, if the 2026 season doesn’t get off to a good start.
And with the first four games against the Jaguars, Buccaneers, Panthers, and Steelers, the mini-bye after the Thursday night home game against Pittsburgh could open the window for a change from QB1 to QB2.
The last time Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders addressed the media in Cleveland, he got frustrated with a question and short with the reporter who asked it. This week, he apologized for that.
Sanders came out to talk to the media and started by saying he meant no disrespect with the way he addressed them last time.
“How’s everybody doing? Good, good. First, I want to apologize for how things was last time I came up here before y’ll,” Sanders said before taking any questions. “I dislike when it’s a lot of separation. When something gets between the team and people get painted a certain way and all this different type of stuff. So that’s where I get frustrated, and I shut down. Because it just doesn’t help us win.”
Sanders had previously become upset with a question about his quarterback competition with Deshaun Watson, declining to answer it by saying, “Next question. I answered this question 1,000 times.” At his more recent press conference, he explained that he was trying not to say anything that might suggest the quarterback competition is dividing the team.
“I feel drained when I express myself to people and places and cameras when it’s not received and taken the right way, or like we’re trying to divide the team or anything like that. That’s where I was trying to preserve my energy from going in depth with a lot of things,” Sanders said.
It’s to Sanders’ credit that he wants to do better in his interactions with the media. And it’s the kind of thing that will easily be forgotten, especially if Sanders plays and plays well.
Is there a reunion in order?
After electing to un-retire, edge rusher Za’Darius Smith had a workout with the Browns on Thursday, according to the league’s transaction wire.
Smith, who turns 34 in early September, previously played for the Browns in 2023 and 2024. He registered 5.5 sacks for the club to help Cleveland make the postseason in his first year with the team and had 5.0 sacks in nine games in 2024 before being traded to Detroit.
Smith appeared in five games for the Eagles last year before electing to retire in mid-October.
A fourth-round pick back in 2015, Smith has appeared in 145 games with 98 starts for the Ravens, Packers, Vikings, Browns, Lions, and Eagles.
The Browns have been looking for veteran edge rusher help, as they recently worked out Jadeveon Clowney before he elected to sign with the Texans.
Bears quarterback Caleb Williams will not play in the team’s preseason opener against the Browns on Saturday, and it sounds like head coach Ben Johnson is leaning toward not playing the signal-caller at all in August.
Johnson told reporters in his Thursday press conference that “a number of starters” will not play against Cleveland, including Williams. Johnson said backup Tyson Bagent will start at quarterback and play about a half.
“There will be a handful of guys that aren’t participating in this matchup,” Johnson said. “And yet, I think we’re going to get some good evals of the guys who are out there and make sure that we have enough to go win this game. So, really excited about that.”
As for the rest of the preseason, Johnson noted that decisions on preseason playing time have not been fully made. But Williams seeing game time won’t be a requirement, particularly as the club will practice with the Bengals next week.
“[D]o I need to see Caleb Williams in the preseason? No, I don’t,” Johnson said. “I see him every single day in practice, and I know what we’re going to get come the season. And yet, at the same time, there’s a workload and a number of reps that we want to hit as a team. And so, we’ll make sure we even that out — whether that’s game reps or not.”
Kickoff between the Bears and Browns is slated for 1 p.m. ET on Saturday.
The Browns made a pair of roster moves on Thursday morning.
They announced the signing of cornerback Jeremiah McClendon. Cornerback Tyron Herring was waived with an injury designation in a corresponding move.
McClendon signed with the Saints after going undrafted in April, but was waived in late May. He had 59 tackles, two tackles for loss, two interceptions, a sack, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery while at Southern Illinois last season.
Herring signed with the Browns in May. He spent time on the practice squads of the Packers and Patriots in 2025.
The Browns play their first preseason game of the year on Saturday.
