What is the story about?
The Cleveland Browns entered the 2021 season full of hope after a playoff run the prior year that included a Wild Card beatdown of the Pittsburgh Steelers and a close loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in the Divisional Round.
But the promise of another playoff run quickly evaporated when quarterback Baker Mayfield suffered a shoulder injury while making a tackle on an interception return in Week 2 against the Houston Texans.
Mayfield and the Browns were never the same as the injury lingered; the team
stumbled to an 8-9 record, and ownership decided in the offseason that it was time for an “adult in the room” at quarterback.
That ill-fated decision kicked off a chain of events that have left the franchise as far from solving its quarterback situation as it has been since 1999, as the team is poised to enter the 2026 season with the worst quarterback room in the NFL.
Here is a brief timeline of how the Browns reached this point.
2022 Season
- After closing out the 2021 season with an 8-9 record and missing the playoffs, ownership decides it needs to find “an adult in the room” for the quarterback position.
- The Browns trade for quarterback Deshaun Watson on March 18. Watson had sat out the previous season in a contract dispute with the Houston Texans. To acquire Watson, the Browns give the Texans three first-round draft picks as part of the trade package, and sign Watson to a five-year contract with $230 million in guaranteed money.
- Mayfield is traded to the Carolina Panthers on July 6.
- Watson is suspended by the NFL for the first 11 games of the 2022 season due to off-field issues from his time with the Texans. Veteran Jacoby Brissett starts at quarterback and proves to be mostly effective, even though the Browns are just 4-7 with Brissett as the starter.
- Watson makes his Cleveland debut in Week 13 against the Texans. He finishes 12-of-22 for 131 yards with an interception, as the Browns win, 27-14.
- Cleveland goes 3-3 with Watson as the starter to close out the season at 7-10. Watson finishes his abbreviated season by completing 58.2 percent of his passes and throwing for 1,102 yards, while tossing seven touchdowns, five interceptions, and taking 20 sacks.
2023 Season
- Watson opens the 2023 season as the starter and helps the Browns to a Week 1 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals.
- In Week 3, Watson takes a hit to his shoulder in a win over the Tennessee Titans. That injury would bother him until Week 10, when after leading the Browns to a comeback win over the Baltimore Ravens, Watson is diagnosed with a broken shoulder that requires surgery and ends his season.
- In Watson’s absence, the Browns rolled with P.J. Walker for two starts and Dorian Thompson-Robinson for three starts before convincing Joe Flacco to join the team. Flacco makes five starts and leads the Browns to a surprising playoff appearance before self-destructing in a Wild Card loss to the Texans.
- In his second season with the Browns, Watson plays in just six games, completing 61.4 percent of his passes for 1,115 yards, seven touchdowns, four interceptions, and taking 17 sacks.
2024 Season
- After another offseason of rehab, Watson opens the 2024 season as the starter. He has a poor Week 1 by throwing two interceptions and being sacked six times in a loss to the Dallas Cowboys.
- Watson and the offense never get going and fall to 1-5 on the season following a 20-16 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.
- The following week in a home game against the Bengals, Watson tears his Achilles’ tendon and is lost for the season.
- In Watson’s absence, the Browns turn to the depressing quarterback trio of Jameis Winston (seven starts), Thompson-Robinson (two starts), and the immortal Bailey Zappe (one start) as they finish the season at 3-14.
- Watson’s third season with the Browns ends after seven games during which he completed 63.4 percent of his passes for 1,148 yards, five touchdowns, three interceptions, and 33 sacks.
2025 Season
- While rehabbing his injury in January, Watson re-tears his Achilles’ tendon.
- Watson misses the entire 2025 season. In his place, the Browns go from Joe Flacco (bad for four starts) to Dillon Gabriel (just as bad for six starts) to Shedeur Sanders (just as bad for seven starts). The Browns finish at 5-12.
- Four seasons into his Cleveland tenure, Watson has played in a total of 19 games, completing 61.2 percent of his passes for 3,365 yards, 19 touchdowns, 12 interceptions, and has been sacked 70 times.
2026 Season (so far)
- The Browns fire head coach Kevin Stefanski on January 5. In his six seasons with the Browns, Stefanski took the team to the playoffs twice and earned two NFL Coach of the Year awards.
- After a search that included a mix of familiar and new names, the Browns hire Todd Monken as head coach. It is the first NFL head coaching role for the 60-year-old Monken, who is touted for his quarterback experience and is owner Jimmy Haslam’s top choice.
- Monken opens up training camp by announcing a competition between Watson and Sanders for the starting quarterback role.
- Watson starts the first preseason game while Sanders gets the starting nod in the second preseason game. Neither plays well enough to instill confidence that they are QB1 material.
- During Saturday’s preseason game against the Buffalo Bills, Watson is booed by the home fans when he enters the game and while struggling to get anything going on offense.
- In his post-game press conference, Watson says he believes that the boos are personal, rather than based on his performance.
- Everyone loses their minds, with calls for the Browns to cut Watson on the spot. That does not happen, in large part, because the cap hits of $40.9 million in 2026 and $86.2 million in 2027 would decimate the roster.
- On Monday, Monken announced that Watson will open the season as Cleveland’s starting quarterback.
- Following the news that he will start in Week 1, Watson explained that his post-game comments from Saturday were just a player being emotional after “putting a lot of time these last two years to get back, spend time in this facility, in the city, meeting a lot of different people in the community, I thought I was going to get a little different response.”
So here we are. For the third time in five seasons, Watson will hit the field in Week 1 as the starting quarterback.
The previous two times, he made it through six games (2023) and seven games (2024) before suffering a season-ending injury. So how long will he last this time?
Barring another injury, there are three ways this is likely going to play out:
- The Browns play well enough to come into the home opener at 1-1 (or even 0-2 if both losses are close). They beat the Carolina Panthers and then, four nights later, the Steelers at home, and head into the mini-bye week with everyone talking themselves into Watson finally having regained his form.
- The Browns struggle and come home to face the Panthers at 0-2. Watson plays poorly in the home opener and again against the Steelers, and the Browns head into the mini-bye week at 0-4. With the extra days off, Monken switches to Sanders as the starter; everyone rejoices, but the on-field product does not improve enough to make a difference.
- Watson and the offense struggle, and the Browns are sitting at 0-4 after a home loss to the Steelers. But with four of the next five games on the road, Monken is wary of making a switch at quarterback. He sticks with Watson, nothing gets better, and an embittered Watson makes his final start in a Cleveland uniform at home in Week 10 against the Texans. With the bye week on hand, Monken makes the switch to Sanders as the starter for the remainder of the season.
Either way, the Browns are finally entering the endgame of the Watson era, which is a relief to everyone.
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