Once upon a time, not so long ago …
The Cleveland Browns were once a franchise that had its act together when it came to the quarterback position.
Training camp would open, and the starter – be it Brian Sipe, Bernie Kosar, or Baker Mayfield, for example – would work with the first-team offense, prepare for the regular season, and everyone would go home happy.
Those days have become few and far between since the team returned to the NFL in 1999. Since then, fans have been “treated” to such training camp
battles as Tim Couch vs. Kelly Holcomb (2003), Brady Quinn vs. Derek Anderson (2008 and 2009), Jason Campbell vs. Brandon Weeden vs. Brian Hoyer (2013), and Josh McCown vs Johnny Manziel (2015), to name a few.
That most noble of traditions returns this summer in Berea as head coach Todd Monken will be choosing between veteran Deshaun Watson, who was last a viable quarterback in 2020, and Shedeur Sanders, who filled no one with confidence during his rookie season in 2025.
Monken had previously stated that he wanted to have the starter established by the end of the offseason program. But as the team prepared to head into its summer break, Monken found himself in a quandary because neither player stood out from the other (quote via a team-provided transcript):
“Well, I would have hoped that, but I like both of them. I don’t know what to say; it’s really as simple as that. I like both of them, and we haven’t had the pads on. That’s the hardest thing, as much as I’d love to make that decision, either by someone separating themselves upwards or downwards, which has not occurred. And we haven’t even gotten to practicing against an opponent, putting the pads on, having a controlled scrimmage or playing preseason games. I’m not there yet. That’s the reality of it.”
Monken was hired based on his work as an offensive coach over his 37-year coaching career, and presumably knows what good quarterback play looks like. So while it is certainly possible that Watson and Sanders are even – which can be seen both as a positive and a negative – if Monken is still unsure about the best option, that could be a problem.
The alternative, however, is that Monken has already made his decision but is waiting until training camp to confirm what his eyes and experience are telling him about the quarterback position. He essentially said as much when he talked about needing to see the quarterbacks in pads and playing in something more than a simulated game of pitch-and-catch.
If Monken believes that Watson can resemble anything remotely close to the player the Browns thought they were getting when they traded for him in 2022, and that is confirmed during training camp, then Watson is the man.
If Monken believes that Sanders and his “elite accuracy” truly made strides during the preseason, and Sanders confirms that when things get real this summer, then Sanders is the man.
Either way, by simply delaying the decision for a few more weeks, Monken has at least somewhat avoided having to reverse course if his preferred choice does not pull it together. And in a battle where, no matter who wins, everyone loses, you have to take your victories where you can find them.
While we are on the subject of quarterbacks, it is also important to remember during the opening weeks of training camp that Monken said he will select the quarterback who he believes gives the team the best chance of winning. Not the one with the bigger fanbase or the one who will not be booed by the home fans from the moment they walk into the huddle, or the one who just happened to take the first snaps of a random practice.
The choices are not good, but Monken knew that when he took the job, and if he truly does know as much about quarterback play as people say, then he should be able to make the best of an otherwise bad situation.
What do you say, Browns fans? Has Monken already made the call at quarterback, or is it truly still an open competition? Have your say in the comments!
