The Cleveland Browns will not rush to settle their quarterback scenario for the 2026 season.
After beginning three completely different signal-callers final season, the Browns are nonetheless searching for an answer beneath heart. Second-year quarterbacks Shedeur Sanders and Dillon Gabriel return alongside Deshaun Watson, who will try to come back again from two surgical procedures to restore a torn Achilles tendon.
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New head coach Todd Monken finally should make a serious choice about his Week 1 starter. However, there is no want to decide on in June.
Monken instructed reporters on Tuesday, per the Cleveland Plain Dealer’s Mary Kay Cabot, that he will not title his beginning quarterback but. Sanders and Watson will proceed to separate first-team reps throughout minicamp.
“Once we get to the fall, we’ll have to dissect the reps as we see fit,” Monken mentioned. “I just don’t see it, after the way Shedeur’s played and Deshaun’s played, they both played well enough to earn the right to compete to start.”
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Cleveland’s quarterback competitors may simmer into one of many summer time’s most intriguing place battles.
Sanders plummeted to the fifth spherical of final 12 months’s draft, however he obtained an opportunity to play as a rookie after Joe Flacco and Gabriel. The former Colorado star accomplished 56.6 % of his passes for 1,400 yards, seven touchdowns, and 10 interceptions in eight video games.
Although he did not run away with the job, the 24-year-old confirmed occasional spurts of potential. He’s a extra probably long-term resolution than the 30-year-old Watson, who has performed simply 19 video games since becoming a member of the Browns in 2022.
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Cleveland gave Watson an unprecedented totally assured contract, however the group has but to see any semblance of the three-time Pro Bowler. Watson has an 80.7 quarterback ranking with simply 177.1 passing yards per recreation for the Browns.
Monken has two imperfect, however intriguing choices as he makes an attempt to remodel a group that scored an anemic 16.4 factors per recreation final season. He expressed optimism about Sanders and Watson on Monday, per The Athletic’s Zac Jackson.
“I’m fired up by the quarterbacks,” Monken mentioned. “I’ll just tell you, we’ve got two starting-level quarterbacks. We really do. We look at the film and then we assess that. And again, I think both of them are doing exactly what we’re asking them to do and competing like hell.”
This story was initially revealed by The Spun on Jun 9, 2026, the place it first appeared within the NFL part. Add The Spun as a Preferred Source by clicking here.