At least according to our poll, Cleveland Browns fans feel confident that either they know who the starting quarterback should be already or will after the joint practice and preseason game with the Buffalo Bills:
According to GM Andrew Berry (and as previously said by HC Todd Monken), the decision between Deshaun Watson and Shedeur Sanders will come down to production and production alone. A report on Saturday said that Watson came into training camp with a lead but that Sanders has impressed since
arriving in Berea.
Overall, the Browns offense hasn’t looked sharp so far in camp as Monken tries to balance scheme fit with the players’ talent. The Cleveland head coach gave an update on the state of the QB competition and when he expects the two to potentially separate themselves:
“Doing fine. I don’t think you’re really going to know until you get through all the installs, because we’re not game planning against our own defense. Each day has been a different part of the pass game, so it’s hard to really [tell]. And one day you go with the ones, the other day you go with the twos, certainly that matchup is going to be different depending on who you’re going against. I think the most important thing is, from a process standpoint, how are we operating at the line of scrimmage, where are their eyes, have they taken command of one the huddle, and then cadence, and then understanding the concepts. I think they’re all doing good, they’re all fine. All of our players are working through mistakes and fighting like hell to get better.”
Monken noted that the team is only halfway through installs at this point (four of eight days in).
Near the end of his media session, the Browns head coach also gave an interesting answer about what he is evaluating at the position right now:
At this point when you’re installing, when I’m scripting, I really am not scripting on who is at quarterback, they each have a different skill set, so as of right now, I’m not evaluating any of them. I’m not making a decision on any of them until we get through all the installs, and we get to where the practices are the same, we’re scripting it based on who’s taking the reps. And we’re playing the preseason games, and we’re going against the Bills. I’ll take that back. We are evaluating, but not to that extreme, nothing’s going to be decided over these install practices. We’re just getting it in, letting the guys compete, see where we’re at, that’s at all positions. Once we get further along in pads, the full install in, we get to compete against other people, that’s really when I’m going to be able to see it because I haven’t coached any of these four quarterbacks until now, I haven’t been around them. I don’t have any preconceived notions of who they’ve been or where they’re going. I just take it day to day, we install, and as we get further along, we’ll have a better idea.”
Anyone expecting a quick quarterback decision in Cleveland/Berea might be in for a far different outcome, based on Monken’s comments.
What do you think about Monken’s comments about the QB competition and his process overall so far? Do you think it is taking far too long, or is the Browns coach doing the right thing by taking his time?
Join the conversation!
Sign up for a user account and get:
- Fewer ads
- Create community posts
- Comment on articles, community posts
- Rec comments, community posts
- New, improved notifications system!
