Browns To Start Deshaun Watson In Preseason Opener

The Browns are conducting a more traditional quarterback competition, whereas the Vikings already named Kyler Murray their Week 1 starter. The Raiders have Kirk Cousins penciled in as theirs, with Klint Kubiak announcing the veteran held the keys to start training camp. This leaves Cleveland’s matchup as the QB battle to watch entering preseason play.

“I’ve got to pick somebody,” Monken said, via cleveland.com’s Mary Kay Cabot, while declining to specify why Watson was chosen to start the first contest. “I have my reasons of how it’s going to go. It’s still a competition.”

Watson, who has been back in the mix basically since Monken’s hire, is coming off two Achilles tears that cost him the 2025 season. The embattled passer has not come remotely close to delivering on the trade the Browns made to acquire him. That trade is now widely regarded, when the QB’s fully guaranteed $230MM contract is factored in, as the worst in NFL history. Jimmy Haslam labeled the deal a swing and miss in 2025 but walked back those comments this year, keeping the door open for a rather surprising Watson climb back up Cleveland’s depth chart.

We heard earlier this summer Watson’s mobility would be a key factor in Monken’s decision, and the first-time NFL HC — Lamar Jackson‘s OC for three seasons — reaffirmed that is a significant part of this matchup. Sanders trails Watson in that department, though the latter has obviously not approached his Texans heights since the disastrous trade.

“I’d never put limitations on a player. Why can’t he play like that? I’m not going to say he can’t until I see it,” Monken said (via Cabot) when asked about Watson potentially reprising his Texans form. “I’ve seen a lot of really good things over the course of the four or five months I’ve been here. He’s done a lot of really good things athletically, making plays that we’re going to get a chance to see.

“… One of his superpowers is his athleticism. That always has been. So you can’t take that away or you’re basically taking away a part of what made him special.”

Watson has shown improvement in recent practices, with Cabot adding he has limited turnovers that were more frequent at the outset of training camp. We heard following Browns minicamp Watson would head into training camp as the favorite over Sanders. The second-year passer will be expected to enter Saturday’s Browns-Bears matchup in the third quarter, per Monken. Sanders and Watson have been alternating days with the Browns’ first-stringers in camp; that is expected to continue throughout the preseason.

It would certainly stand to reason the Browns should keep the keys in Sanders’ hands due to Watson carrying perhaps the biggest lame-duck contract in NFL history. Despite the QB expressing an openness to staying in Cleveland after his albatross contract wraps at season’s end, he is expected to be jettisoned via a post-June 1 release designation — a move that will allow the Browns to split an $86.2MM dead money bill between the 2027 and ’28 payrolls — while the Browns will be expected to search for a quarterback in next year’s draft. The Myles Garrett trade equipped Cleveland with a second first-round pick. That figures to be valuable, though the Browns will certainly be expected to carry a pick near the top of the draft. That could prove wildly beneficial given the QB quality — several months out, at least — projected to be part of the 2027 draft class.

Watson winning the job would represent quite the comeback story, though it would also show the Browns’ two-QB draft in 2025 did not work out. For now, it appears Watson holds a lead on Sanders. Cleveland’s extended competition could still swing the Colorado alum’s way — perhaps even in a scenario that features Sanders replacing Watson in-season — but he will wait his turn in Monken’s offense for now.