Recent reports have suggested that people within the Cleveland Browns want fans of the team to realize that controversial veteran Deshaun Watson is on track to be named the club’s 2026 Week 1 starting quarterback over Shedeur Sanders.
During Wednesday appearances on ESPN Cleveland, ESPN football writer Jake Trotter and Browns insider Tony Grossi shared more bad news about Sanders’ short-term future.
Are the Browns giving up on Shedeur Sanders with Deshaun Watson leading the quarterback competition?
“We’re hearing all this Deshaun Watson is gonna start buzz, right? Whether you agree with it or not, it’s coming from somewhere,” Trotter said. “And I just don’t understand why you would go through the pomp and circumstance and the distraction of taking Shedeur, and yet clearly you don’t think he’s the guy, because you would not be thinking about starting Deshaun Watson if you thought Shedeur Sanders had a chance to be the guy.”
Watson reportedly outperformed Sanders and fellow 2025 rookie Dillon Gabriel during Cleveland’s voluntary minicamp that was held in late April. That said, Watson reportedly “will not be back” with the Browns following the 2026 campaign, while both Sanders and Gabriel are on team-friendly contracts through 2028.
Thus, one would think first-year Cleveland head coach Todd Monken would want to get a good look at either Sanders or Gabriel this fall. Then again, Monken reportedly could become a one-and-done head coach if the Browns endure another losing season under his watch.
Would the Browns make Shedeur Sanders available if he loses the starting job to Deshaun Watson?
Meanwhile, Grossi hinted that Gabriel and not Sanders could enter the 2026 season serving as Watson’s primary backup.
“Gabriel is a guy who will keep quiet,” Grossi explained. “He’ll just study, he’ll stay up on the game plan. He’ll support the starter in any way he can. He’ll run the scout team. And if needed, he’ll play. That’s what you want out of a backup quarterback. Shedeur, his shadow is just so huge.”
Grossi added that he thinks that “shadow” is one reason teams that didn’t think Sanders would become a long-term franchise quarterback passed on him during the 2025 draft until the Browns took a flier on him in the fifth round. One now wonders if that shadow will cause Cleveland to make Sanders available to other clubs in the event that Watson wins the full-time starting job this summer.