On Wednesday, Browns head coach Todd Monken said he was anticipating rookie receiver Denzel Boston would practice on Thursday.
But now we know that is not the case.
Boston is not participating on Thursday as he continues to deal with a toe injury, the club announced in its pre-practice report.
Monken said on Wednesday that he didn’t think Boston’s injury was a concern, calling it “a little toe issue.”
Boston leads the Browns with 507 receiving yards. He’s made 32 receptions with three touchdowns.
Browns starting center Elgton Jenkins (knee) is returning to Thursday’s practice.
Safety Ronnie Hickman (concussion) and fullback Michael Burton (calf) are slated to remain sidelined.
Texans Clips
The Browns practiced without wide receiver Denzel Boston on Wednesday, but they don’t expect his absence to be an extended one.
Boston is listed with a toe injury and head coach Todd Monken said at his pre-practice press conference that the second-round pick is expected to be back on the field on Thursday.
“I wouldn’t say it’s a concern,” Monken said, via a transcript from the team. “Obviously, I anticipate him being out today. He’s got a little toe issue, but we anticipate him being back tomorrow.”
Fullback Michael Burton (calf), safety Ronnie Hickman (concussion), and center Elgton Jenkins (knee) were also out of practice. Offensive tackle Austin Barber (calf), defensive tackle Maliek Collins (elbow), tight end Harold Fannin (groin), right tackle Tytus Howard (knee), linebacker Carson Schwesinger (wrist, ankle), cornerback Denzel Ward (quad), and linebacker Quincy Williams (hamstring) were the team’s limited participants.
Browns head coach Todd Monken opened his Wednesday press conference by confirming that Deshaun Watson will be back as the team’s starting quarterback for their Week 10 game against the Texans.
Watson did not play last week after missing a pair of practices while in the concussion protocol and the team’s plans for this Sunday remained a topic of conversation because Monken declined to say who would start during a Monday press conference. Monken explained that response by saying that he wanted to talk to the team’s coaching staff before adding that he also didn’t feel a need to make a public proclamation.
“Ultimately, the full body of work, the previous eight games we had played,” Monken said. “Deshaun played pretty well. That was my intention, I just wanted to make sure to run it by my staff before I said it publicly. I don’t know why I have to say it publicly.”
Monken was asked if he will be making a quarterback determination on a weekly basis moving forward.
“I don’t look at it week-to-week and I don’t look at it as long term,” Monken said. “We’re judged each week. I am, he is, our team is. . . . I anticipate him being our starter. That’s what he’s been, he’s been our starter. . . . I have no intention of Deshaun not being our starter.”
The Texans are 5-4 heading into their game with the Texans and they have a bye in Week 11. If they are unable to stay on the right side of .500 after that break, Monken will likely field more questions about the plan for Watson moving forward.
Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud didn’t sign a contract extension ahead of the 2026 season and that set him up for a prove-it year in Houston.
Last Sunday’s game against the Chargers was one Stroud can use to make his case for a new deal. Stroud threw five touchdowns as the Texans picked up a 44-22 win in Los Angeles.
Stroud was 21-of-35 for 384 yards overall and he added a pair of runs for 20 yards. The NFL named Stroud the AFC offensive player of the week on Wednesday.
It’s the second time this season and fifth time overall that Stroud received the award. He has 2,251 passing yards, 16 touchdowns and two interceptions while completing 64.2 percent of his passes so far this year.
A report on Monday morning indicated that the Browns planned to turn back to Deshaun Watson at quarterback for their Week 10 games against the Texans, but head coach Todd Monken declined to make any announcement during a press conference later in the day.
Monken is scheduled to speak to reporters again on Wednesday and the day opened with multiple reports that Watson will indeed start against his former team. Shedeur Sanders started in last Sunday’s loss to the Saints after Watson missed two days of practice while working through the concussion protocol. Watson was cleared on Saturday, but was inactive with Dillon Gabriel serving as the team’s No. 2 quarterback.
Sanders was 19-of-31 for 297 yards and two touchdowns before failing to complete a two-point conversion in overtime that would have won the game. Monken said after the game that he was “proud” of the way the quarterback played in his first start of the season, but avoided a question about whether Sanders showed enough to make a case to move up the depth chart permanently.
The Browns offense only generated six points in their Week 8 loss to the Steelers with Watson at the helm and they have a bye in Week 11, so another lackluster outing against Houston could lead to a different decision at quarterback in the future.
UPDATE 9:31 a.m. ET: The Browns have now confirmed that Watson is set to start the game later.
Shedeur Sanders has given Todd Monken something to think about.
The Browns’ head coach told reporters in his Monday news conference that he’s not ready to name a starter at quarterback for the Week 10 matchup against the Texans.
That came after Jeremy Fowler of ESPN reported that Deshaun Watson would be back in the saddle after missing Sunday’s game.
“I really haven’t thought through it other than getting through this morning’s tape,” Monken said. “I just got done meeting with the guys. They’ll flush the game and then we’ll have a chance to meet offensively more [extensively] later today. We went through the tape, immediately had to break, go to personnel, then the team comes in, and we haven’t had a chance to circle back as an offensive staff.”
Watson started the first eight games of the season for Cleveland, generating five game-winning drives for the team’s five wins.
Sanders, who started after Watson missed the first two days of the practice week while in concussion protocol, completed 19-of-31 passes for 297 yards with two touchdowns and no picks against the Saints.
“Well I’m awfully proud of him,” Monken said of Sanders. “It’s been 10 weeks since he had reps with the ones. I think it showed up, the reps that we gave him in camp.
“I thought he battled. I thought he showed composure in the pocket, getting to his check-downs at times. He made plays with his feet in escaping. He made the scramble play to Jerry [Jeudy]. He made a big third-down conversion early and he made one right there in four-minute, right before the holding call that gave us a first down. So, that’s what you wanted to see.”
Monken noted that philosophically, he doesn’t really think of a player losing a job due to injury.
“It’s week to week,” Monken said. “A player doesn’t lose or win a job — I don’t know what that means. Each week, we put the best players on the field that give us a chance to win.”
Monken added that Sanders’ play didn’t necessarily alter his thinking about whether or not Sanders could play at some point this season.
“I was thrilled. I was happy for him,” Monken said. “Every player wants to go and play and play well. And there were moments [where] I didn’t coach well enough, he didn’t play well enough. But there were moments at the end of the game where he made plays, right? He got it in the players’ hands, did a really good job, was in command. So, I was really pleased for him. And I was hopeful he’d play well. I thought he had a great week of practice and there is no guarantee that will carry over. So I’m really happy for him.
“Does it give me confidence? From what I saw in the fall, you bet it does. It gives me more and more confidence that what I saw in the fall, there’s something to build on — for sure.”
We’ll see how that translates as the season continues. But the fact that Sanders played well enough to make it an open question does say something about his development.
Browns head coach Todd Monken wasn’t interested in answering questions about the team’s quarterback plans for Week 10 after Sunday’s 23-22 overtime loss to the Saints, but it seems the team has done some thinking about their plans.
Jeremy Fowler of ESPN reports that the plan is for Deshaun Watson to return to the starting lineup against the Texans. Watson cleared concussion protocol on Saturday, but was inactive after missing two practices during the week.
Shedeur Sanders got the start and went 19-of-31 for 297 yards and two touchdowns. Monken said after the game that he was proud of Sanders’s performance after spending the first two months of the season on the bench, but declined to answer whether it was enough for him to consider making a lasting change.
Monken hasn’t confirmed the team’s plan, but it appears the team will return to the status quo as they try to keep pace in the AFC playoff race.
After four unproductive games with the Cardinals to start this season, wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. was traded to the Texans. After three games in Houston, Harrison remains unproductive.
Harrison had five catches for 85 yards and one touchdown with the Cardinals this season before he was traded, and he has six catches for 60 yards and one touchdown with the Texans since the trade.
While Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud was finding open receivers all over the field in Sunday’s win over the Chargers, Harrison was largely invisible. Stroud threw for 384 yards and five touchdowns; Harrison caught just two passes and was sixth on the team with 20 receiving yards, and he was not one of the four Texans receivers to catch a touchdown pass.
Two and a half seasons into his NFL career, Harrison has fallen far short of the hype that he had entering the NFL, as the son of a Hall of Fame wide receiver and the fourth overall pick in the 2024 NFL draft. So far, a change of scenery hasn’t helped.
The Browns fell short in overtime on Sunday, but head coach Todd Monken said he liked what he saw from quarterback Shedeur Sanders in New Orleans.
Sanders was 19-of-31 for 297 yards and two touchdowns, including a 39-yarder to tight end Harold Fannin that made it 23-22 in overtime. Sanders threw an incompletion on the ensuing two-point conversion, which allowed the Saints to escape with a win.
“I’m really proud of him and how hard he’s worked since I’ve been here,” Monken said. “He wasn’t perfect. I wasn’t perfect. But for a guy that really hasn’t taken snaps with the ones in, what, 10 weeks. When we announced it with two weeks left and we’re eight weeks into the season, so you’re basically two-and-a-half months where you’re basically running cards. To come in there and continue to battle, really proud of him.”
Sanders got the start after Deshaun Watson missed most of the week in concussion protocol and Monken was asked if he made a case for a longer run as a starter during the loss.
“How long has it been? Thirty minutes since the game ended? I’m not getting into quarterback,” Monken said. “If we want to talk about Shedeur, we can talk about Shedeur.”
Watson cleared the protocol on Saturday, but was inactive for Sunday’s game. The Browns will host the Texans next Sunday and more clarity about their quarterback plans should come in the next few days.
The Texans might not be back, considering it was the Chargers they blew out, but they can’t be counted out just yet either.
Houston routed the Chargers 44-22 in a game that wasn’t that close.
The Texans have won three of their last four games, and they have the Browns, Colts and Ravens in their next three games. After beginning the season 0-4, Houston is 3-5. The Chargers fell to 0-8 and remain on track for the No.1 overall pick.
C.J. Stroud threw for 384 yards and five touchdowns, a 17-yarder to Xavier Hutchinson, a 63-yarder to Tank Dell, a 12-yarder to Kayshon Boutte, a 13-yarder to Nico Collins and a 63-yarder to Boutte. Boutte caught four passes for 125 yards, and Dell added four catches for 105 yards with the touchdown his first since December 2024.
Woody Marks ran 18 times for 70 yards.
The Texans outgained the Chargers 485 to 315.
Houston sacked Justin Herbert eight times, with Will Anderson, Sheldon Rankins and Jadeveon Clowney each collecting two sacks. Herbert injured the middle finger on his left hand on a sack by Logan Hall in the fourth quarter.
Herbert was 13-of-23 for 193 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Keaton Mitchell lost a fumble.
Herbert stayed in after his hand injury and threw a 58-yard touchdown to Quentin Johnston, ending a streak of 38 possessions without a touchdown. The Chargers’ previous touchdown came with 57 seconds left in the third quarter against the Broncos on Oct. 11 when Kimani Vidal scored on a 42-yard run in the 23-17 loss to Denver.
Ladd McConkey had back spasms in pregame warmups and didn’t play.
