Shedeur Sanders shares harsh reality about competition with Deshaun Watson, Dillon Gabriel

While speaking with reporters on Tuesday, Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders revealed that he feels "bulletproof" coming off a rookie season that was followed by the firing of his first NFL head coach and the hiring of replacement Todd Monken.

That said, Sanders also seems to understand he has been promised nothing regarding the competition for the Cleveland starting job that also involves fellow 2025 rookie Dillon Gabriel and veteran Deshaun Watson.

Shedeur Sanders trying to control what he can control amid early days of QB competition

"That’s not up to me (who starts)," Sanders said, per Zac Jackson of The Athletic. "I go out there every day and focus on what I can control. If I focus on something I can’t control, then I’ll be living the wrong way." 

Nothing can be won or lost during this voluntary minicamp, so how reps are distributed among the quarterbacks is basically meaningless. All three are working on mastering a new playbook, while Sanders and Gabriel are still learning about life in the NFL during what is now their first full offseason as pros. 

Sanders noted that he received some helpful advice from Monken on how to improve heading into springtime workouts and summer training-camp sessions. 

"I was here one day, and he was like, 'Well, if you want to be the best quarterback you want to be, then you got to do that on a daily thing, on a daily regimen, daily time,'" Sanders said, according to Eric Edholm of the NFL's website. "So that's what clicked for me. And then I was like, 'OK, I need to improve this area.' And it's just one step at a time. You got to do this, you got to do this. You keep adding things as you start getting momentum and everything. So, I think it's just having (a head coach) just talking to you, like, I think that's it. Just a relationship. I'm a relationship-based person, so I take relationships extremely serious."

Shedeur Sanders opens up about working relationship with Deshaun Watson

The previously mentioned Watson spent the entire 2025 season recovering after he suffered a torn right Achilles in October 2024 and then reinjured the Achilles during his recovery. He also served as a mentor for Sanders and Gabriel throughout this past campaign, but Watson is now hoping to reclaim a starting job that hasn't been his since he went down with the initial Achilles injury.

"Deshaun has accomplished a lot in his career, obviously, so when I have questions about certain things, I ask him," Sanders said about his working relationship with Watson. "And I just like hearing his perspective on problems that I could have or the way I think about things — just hearing the way he thinks of things and hearing the way Dillon thinks of things, hearing the way Coach Monken thinks of things."

The perception exists that Sanders or Watson will emerge as Cleveland's Week 1 starter at some point this summer. Monken has indicated the quarterback who gives the team the best chance to win will earn the gig, but the coach remains a long way away from having to make his decision.