Browns head coach Todd Monken raised some eyebrows earlier this week when he said it’s possible the team may use Taylen Green for a package of plays while also acknowledging that it would be difficult to have three QBs active on the gameday roster.
But it doesn’t sound like the rookie Green has made a jump up the depth chart.
Monken was asked in his Wednesday press conference if he anticipates Shedeur Sanders being the team’s backup in the season opener against Jacksonville and said, “I do.”
So, Sanders is, in fact, in line to be Deshaun Watson’s backup on Sunday.
Given Watson’s injury history — not to mention his string of poor play — Sanders could be pressed into duty sooner rather than later.
In his eight games with seven starts as a rookie last year, Sanders completed 56.6 percent of his passes for 1,400 yards with seven touchdowns and 10 interceptions.
The Browns selected Green in the sixth round of this year’s draft out of Arkansas.
Cleveland will be on the road to play Jacksonville at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday.
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Browns cornerback Denzel Ward signed a two-year contract extension this offseason and he’s investing some of that money in another one of the city’s sports teams.
According to multiple reports, Ward has purchased a stake in the Cleveland Guardians. The Guardians are owned by Paul Dolan and David Blitzer with Blitzer in position to become the team’s majority owner in the coming years.
Ward is not the only NFL player with a stake in the Guardians. Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce is also a minority shareholder in the club and both players attended this year’s home opener in Blitzer’s suite.
Ward grew up outside of Cleveland and has spent his entire NFL career with the Browns. The investment in the Guardians suggests he’ll remain tied to the city beyond his playing career as well.
Apparently, Baker Mayfield is no longer feeling disrespected.
According to a joint report from NFL Network and ESPN, Mayfield and the Buccaneers have agreed to a three-year extension, putting him under contract through the 2029 season.
The deal is reportedly worth $165 million, which works out to $55 million a year.
Mayfield had cut off extension talks at the beginning of training camp, telling reporters at the time that he had felt disrespected by the Bucs’ offer to him. But he also kept the door open to his agent potentially still talking numbers with the team.
As Mike Garafolo of NFL Network notes, the two sides were not that far apart at the start of training camp. Both sides came back to the negotiating table after a break and were able to get the deal done, preventing Mayfield from playing out a contract year.
Mayfield, the No. 1 overall pick of the 2018 draft, has been Tampa Bay’s starter for the last three seasons. He initially signed with the club on a one-year deal, leading the Bucs to a division title and a postseason win in his first year. The Bucs went 10-7 in 2024 and won the NFC South before falling in the Wild Card round.
While the club started hot in 2025, Tampa Bay finished 8-9, missing the postseason.
Mayfield completed 63.2 percent of his passes last season for 3,693 yards with 25 touchdowns and 11 interceptions.
The Buccaneers will begin the 2026 season on the road on Sunday against the Bengals.
The Browns and their fan base have not been on the same page when it comes to the team’s starting quarterback.
Before Watson was officially named QB1, he was booed when he appeared and played poorly during the team’s second preseason game last month. That set Watson off, with the quarterback saying fans were being “disrespectful,” and the reaction had nothing to do with his performance.
Head coach Todd Monken has maintained that everyone will be fine if the Browns are playing winning football. But he admitted in an interview with 92.3 The Fan on Tuesday morning that after the second preseason game, there was some question about Watson’s confidence and ability to play if he’s not supported.
“I mean, after that game — I’ll just say during the game and then after the game, certainly Deshaun was not in a great headspace. Let’s be real honest about it,” Monken told hosts Ken Carman and Anthony Lima. “He said it after the game, he was frustrated, and didn’t particularly play well. And we don’t coach well and call it well around him. So, we certainly all have to own that.
“I looked at it more along the lines of a speed bump and just a blip on the radar more than the norm of what I had seen over the course of the five months being here, in terms of his confidence, how hard he’s worked to get back to where he’s at today. And he did, he came to me right after that, him and I had a good conversation, and he said, ‘I’m not sure I handled that the right way. But I did have things that were on my heart.’ And I asked him, I said, ‘Do you feel like you’ve gotten rid of it?’ Because it’s one thing to say it. It’s another thing to really believe it, that OK, I needed to get this off my chest, it’s over, I just want to go out there and play great football. I’ve worked awfully hard to get back.”
Monken added that he believes Watson when the quarterback says he’s OK and will be fine moving forward.
“The only way you’re going to get the best out of your players is to have a verbal contract that says, I’ve got your back. I’ve got your back, I’ve got you,” Monken said. “That’s what we’ve done with Deshaun, and we look forward to playing this weekend.”
While Monken reiterated that he didn’t take the fans’ opinion of Watson into account when selecting him over Shedeur Sanders as the winner of the QB competition, he understood the negative reaction.
“[T]he fans just want us to win and play good football. So, I do understand some of the frustration,” Monken said. “I do think that, unfortunately, it’s viewed a little bit like hate and hope — is really the way I put it. The fans really just want hope. And Deshaun, over the years that he’s been here, has frustrated the fans and, certainly, himself in terms of wanting to play better for the Cleveland fans and the organization.
“And I get where they’re coming from, but ultimately, any great fanbase like ours wants to win, wants to see a great product on the field. And that’s what we’re aiming to do starting this week and as long as I’m the head coach here.”
The Browns will open the season on the road against the Jaguars at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday afternoon.
Deshaun Watson will be starting at quarterback for the Browns in Week 1, but head coach Todd Monken left the door open to the possibility that another quarterback could also see playing time against the Jaguars.
Rookie Taylen Green made the 53-man roster and Monken was asked at a Monday press conference if the team could possibly have a package of plays in the playbook to take advantage of the sixth-round pick’s athleticism.
“There could be a package where we have him,” Monken said.
Monken went on to stress that it is a possibility rather than something the team is actively planning to have in place and that “three’s a lot” when asked about having Green active alongside Watson and backup Shedeur Sanders. The Jaguars probably won’t be losing much sleep about that possibility, but it will be something to watch out for if Green avoids the inactive list on Sunday afternoon.
For at least one week, Deshaun Watson will be a Browns captain.
Head coach Todd Monken named Watson one of Cleveland’s five captains for the season opener against Jacksonville. Monken explained that the team will not have season-long captains, instead doing them weekly. There will be two captains from offense, two from defense, and one from special teams chosen by the coaches.
And in Week 1, Watson — the starting quarterback — will be one of the offensive representatives.
“It’ll vary week-to-week, and then at the end of the year, the players will vote on the permanent 2026 captains,” Monken said in his Monday press conference. “I just like it that way. I think we have a fairly young team. I’m not ready to name guys that are permanent for us. I do think it’s cool for players to go out for the coin toss, I think it’s really cool.
“I think most teams have more leaders than just four or five guys — I just believe that. I believe that with each game you reward guys for the week that they’ve had, and that’s what we’re going to do.”
Watson, guard Zion Johnson, cornerback Tyson Campbell, defensive tackle Mason Graham, and long snapper Rex Sunahara will be the Browns’ Week 1 captains.
Kickoff between the Browns and Jaguars is set for 1 p.m. ET in Jacksonville on Sunday.
Training camp opened with four, and potentially five, NFL quarterback competitions.
In the end, all five jobs went to the older of the two primary contenders.
The first decision came in Minnesota, where Kyler Murray prevailed over 2024 top-10 selection J.J. McCarthy in the first competition to be resolved, before the first preseason game. The backup job there also has apparently gone to the older player, with Carson Wentz seemingly leapfrogging McCarthy. (The Vikings have yet to release their Week 1 depth chart.)
Minnesota will enter the season with three former high first-round picks in their quarterback room. Murray was No. 1 overall in 2019, and Wentz was the second overall pick in 2016.
The next decision was made by the Browns, where Deshaun Watson was made the starter (at least for Week 1 and likely Week 2) two weeks ago today, over 2025 fifth-rounder Shedeur Sanders. Watson was the 12th overall pick in 2017.
Last week, the Raiders finally declared that Kirk Cousins, who entered the league as a fourth-round pick in 2012, would start Week 1 over Fernando Mendoza, the No. 1 overall pick in 2026.
And now the Falcons have gone with Tua Tagovailoa, pick No. 5 in 2020, over Michael Penix Jr., the eighth overall selection in 2024. That one feels even more tenuous than Watson in Cleveland; the Falcons were hoping Penix would be ready to go. Ultimately, they decided he wasn’t — and Tua got the nod over Cooper Rush (who’s technically older than Tua).
The fifth competition never became one, because Jacoby Brissett got a new deal done before a hold in gave Gardner Minshew or Carson Beck a chance to learn the new offense and potentially supplant Brissett.
In many situations, winning the starting job to start the season means securing the privilege of eventually being benched. That’s a very real possibility for Watson, Cousins, and Tagovailoa. The safest of them all is Murray, who was likely signed to be the starter — and who is playing for a team that wants to have the same quarterback in place for all 17 regular-season games.
When the NFL fines players during the preseason, when they aren’t receiving their regular paychecks, the fines are typically for lower amounts. But Browns offensive lineman Tytus Howard got a fairly substantial preseason fine.
The NFL fined Howard $12,537 for what it deemed unnecessary roughness during the first quarter of the first preseason game. Howard got a 15-yard penalty for tripping on the play.
The $12,537 fine was the biggest fine the NFL has announced for the 2026 preseason, although the league has not yet announced any fines for the third and final week of the preseason.
The league’s ability to fine players is established in the Collective Bargaining Agreement with the players’ union. The NFL’s officiating department reviews plays and refers potential fines to the football operations staff, which then examines the plays in question to determine whether a fine is in order. Players who get fined are sent a letter informing them of the fine and a video of the play in question. Players who don’t appeal have the money withheld from their next game check. Players who do appeal fines get a hearing with an appeals officer who is jointly appointed by the NFL and the NFL Players Association. This season, the appeals officers are Derrick Brooks, Jordy Nelson and James Thrash. The appeals officer has final say.
Fine money is donated to the Professional Athletes Foundation, which supports former players in need, and the NFL Foundation, which supports health and safety initiatives in football from youth leagues to the professional level.
Michael Lombardi, the longtime advisor to Bill Belichick who was recently placed on leave as North Carolina’s general manager, has resigned.
“Effective September 3, 2026, Michael Lombardi has resigned from his position as General Manager of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s football program,” North Carolina announced in a statement. “The University will continue its ongoing investigation and will consider all appropriate corrective actions responsive to the information it learns.”
It is still unclear why Lombardi was placed on leave, what North Carolina is investigating, or why he resigned, although the matter reportedly stems from a complaint filed by a former North Carolina employee. Less than a week ago, Lombardi’s lawyer was claiming the investigation into Lombardi’s conduct was a “witch hunt.”
Belichick hired Lombardi shortly after becoming North Carolina’s head coach. Lombardi had previously worked with Belichick in both of Belichick’s NFL head-coaching stints, with the Browns and Patriots. After North Carolina won its season opener on Saturday, Belichick made a point of praising Lombardi’s role in building the team.
Now Lombardi is gone, and Belichick has lost one of his most trusted aides.
Browns defensive tackle Mike Hall and running back Quinshon Judkins had a bit of a dust up in training camp, with the incident apparently causing Hall to miss nearly three weeks of practice.
Cameras captured an aggressive block by Judkins on a stumbling Hall. Rumors flew that there was more to it than that; neither the team nor Hall’s agents provided answers in response to inquiries from PFT as to whether the rumors had any merit.
Regardless, Hall met with reporters on Wednesday and said that the incident is in the past.
“Yeah, I mean, we’re teammates at the end of the day, so, I mean, it’s just a little, you know, mishap on the field,” Hall said. “But other than that, you know, he’s my brother, at the end of the day, he’s still my teammate. So we were getting ready to play Jacksonville and that’s what I’m worried about.”
Hall was asked whether he has spoken to Judkins in an effort to clear the air.
“Yeah, like I said before, he’s my teammate, so I mean, got to talk to him at some time,” Hall said. “But we’re getting ready for Jacksonville and that’s all I’m worried about.”
If there was anything more to it, the Browns successfully kept it from getting out. And Hall seems to be over it.
