Cleveland Browns News

Home

Quizzes

Watch

Newsletter

Power Rankings

Scout: Deshaun Watson ‘Much Better’ Than Shedeur Sanders

Ken Blaze-Imagn Images

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Scout: Deshaun Watson ‘Much Better’ Than Shedeur Sanders

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Craig Ellenport | Last updated Jul 7, 2026 12:38 PM ET

Add us as a preferred source on Google

New Cleveland Browns head coach Todd Monken has already said there will be an open competition for the starting quarterback job between veteran Deshaun Watson and second-year pro Shedeur Sanders when training camp begins later this month. At least one rival NFL scout thinks the choice is obvious.

Watson hasn’t played since Week 7 of the 2024 season. He’s only started 19 games for the Browns since the much-criticized trade that sent him to Cleveland from the Houston Texans, and he’s coming off two Achilles tears. He’s also entering the final year of the brutal contract that has hamstrung the team since they guaranteed him so much money in the first place.

“It’s time for the Browns to get a return on their $230 million investment in Deshaun Watson,” one rival scout told Athlon Sports. “Watson has the talent as a former Pro Bowl selection, but his off-field problems, now settled through the legal system, derailed his career.

“He’s much better than Shedeur Sanders, but it doesn’t take a genius to see that.”

Those comments appear in the Athlon Sports 2026 NFL Preview magazine, which is available online and at newsstands nationwide.

Watson was acquired by the Browns after the 2021 season in exchance for a package that included three first-round draft picks. He had missed all of 2021 — he was on the Texans’ roster while dealing with multiple sexual harassment allegations, but the team had him inactive for every game.

Quarterbacks Shedeur Sanders and Deshaun Watson at the Browns OTA camp in Berea on May 20, 2026.USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Watson hasn’t done much in his time in Cleveland, but the scout’s comments about the former Clemson Tiger’s talent are not unfounded. In 2020 with the Texans, Watson led the league with 4,823 passing yards and had 37 touchdown passes vs. just seven interceptions. In his four seasons with Houston, he completed 67.8% of his passes for 14,539 yards, 104 TD passes and 36 interceptions.

By contrast, in his three seasons playing for the Browns so far, Watson has completed 61.2% of his passes for 3,365 yards, 19 TD passes and 12 picks.

It can be argued that Watson’s struggles in Cleveland have been due to a combination of injuries, off-field distractions and the pressure of a contract that was universally panned around the league. Having had all of 2025 to work his way back from the Achilles injuries, it doesn’t hurt that the Browns added a dangerous deep threat in rookie wide receiver Denzel Boston, a second-round pick who will line up opposite veteran Jerry Jeudy.

Sanders, meanwhile, started seven games for Cleveland in 2025, completing 56.6% of his passes for 1,400 yards with 10 TD passes and seven interceptions. There’s also Dillon Gabriel, also a rookie last season, who started six games. Gabriel completed 59.5% of his passes for 937 yards, seven TD passes and two interceptions.

Is this the year Watson returns to form? Unless Watson or Sanders or Gabriel steps up in a major way in 2026, chances are the Browns will once again be looking for a new franchise QB in the 2027 NFL Draft. Cleveland will have two first-round picks — the second coming from the Los Angeles Rams via the Myles Garrett trade — in a draft that will be loaded with enticing QB prospects.

For Watson, who will be 31 in September, this is shaping up to be the most important training camp of his career.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: