Deshaun Watson Inactive vs. Saints Despite Clearing Concussion Protocol

Monken hinted at this on Friday. “He’s still not able to do team reps,” Monken said of Watson, per NFL.com. Two days earlier, with Sanders taking the first-team work, Monken made clear he wanted a look at the backup anyway.

“I want to see him with our guys, and I want to see his confidence level and what we have in terms of the game plan,” Monken said, via the team’s website. “If it goes that way, then he gets a great opportunity to go play and for us to see him go play.”

Going back through the box scores, all five Cleveland wins have come by four points or fewer, a combined 16 points. The three losses came by a combined 50. A 5-3 team living on one-score games can’t afford to send out a quarterback who took one practice all week and spent four days in the protocol.

Watson has thrown for 1,806 yards with seven touchdown passes and three interceptions in eight starts, but he’s also been sacked 33 times, including eight times in Pittsburgh on the day he took the hit that led to the concussion. Sanders went 3-4 in seven starts as a rookie last season, throwing seven touchdown passes and 10 interceptions. He has attempted three passes this year.

A strong afternoon in the Superdome against a 2-5 Saints team would give the folks in Berea something to think about before the Texans come to Huntington Bank Field. One good game from Sanders would hand Monken a QB decision no one expected to make in November.