CLEVELAND, Ohio — Will the Browns really go into the offseason banking on either Shedeur Sanders or Deshaun Watson winning the starting quarterback job?
Count me among those who are dubious.
GM Andrew Berry and new head coach Todd Monken both offered praise for Sanders and Watson and left the door wide open for either to win the job, but they also didn’t close the door on adding more competition.
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“Sure, I think it’s an open competition,” Monken said. “I don’t know why it wouldn’t be an open competition. I don’t mean that saying it harshly, but I don’t think there’s enough on film over the last couple years one way or the other to say, boy, we have our starter at quarterback yet. Whether internally or externally.”
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Berry was his normal evasive self on the topic of adding a quarterback who could supersede Sanders or Watson.
“I think there’s always the possibility,” he said, “but we have a long way to go before we get to that point. We expect to have a competitive room and that’s important to us, but what that looks like, I can’t exactly define that as we sit here today.”
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Monken also said about the importance of adding an external option at QB: “I wouldn’t say it’s important to, but we’re going to do our due diligence to make sure that our roster, that we put ourselves in the best position we can to score points, which starts with that position.”
What they say is one thing, but what they actually do over the next two months is what matters, and the idea of the 60-year-old Monken staking his first and maybe only NFL head coaching opportunity on those two quarterbacks alone? Well, that seems like something at least worth questioning.
This week’s 10 takes starts with a look at the team’s approach at quarterback and more.
2. Why they might stick with the status quo
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Maybe another realistic option won’t materialize.
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Their decision is at the mercy of who becomes available, what that player will cost and whether they want to actually play in Cleveland.
As far as free agency in general is concerned, Monken laid it out pretty clearly last week: “Usually free agents take the most money, so that’s what you have to do is have money to spend.”
What it might come down to is how much money the Browns would spend to entice Malik Willis to Cleveland. As intriguing as those starts at the end of the year in Green Bay were, he has still started only six games in four seasons and has attempted 20 or more passes twice in his career.
There’s also the possibility of acquiring someone like Anthony Richardson.
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Richardson would be cheaper and wouldn’t come in as a guaranteed starter like Willis would. But it would also put the Browns dangerously close to a scenario like last year, where they ran a misguided four-man quarterback competition that only managed to make sure none of the four quarterbacks were ready to actually start games.
Maybe the landscape will just mean the Browns have to stick with what they have and make the best of it.
3. Why it’s hard to believe they will just stick with the status quo
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The main question still looms over all of this: Are they really going to tie this season to Watson who, by the time Week 1 rolls around, won’t have played a game in nearly two years? (You’ve heard that before about Watson.)
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Watson is now six years removed from his best statistical season and has ended the last two seasons he’s played on injured reserve.
Then there’s Sanders, who had moments in his seven starts last season, but still needs to overcome some of the bad habits that followed him from college. The hope with Sanders would be that a better supporting cast and a new offense would help in those areas.
Those are two big rolls of the dice and it seems more likely the Browns will find themselves in a similar situation to the last two years, having no clear plan at quarterback and hoping the 2027 draft class really does reach the levels it’s projected to reach.
Does that sound like the plan for a team that just hired Monken and whose owner called eight wins in two years not good enough?
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4. Which brings us to the draft
The value of both Watson and Sanders might lie in what they could provide for a quarterback the Browns draft
Ty Simpson has already started to gain traction as the second-best quarterback in this class. I still expect intrigue with Garrett Nussmeier to grow.
If the alternatives to the current quarterback room don’t materialize in free agency or the trade market, it’s worth noting where the Giants moved up to for Jaxson Dart (No. 25 overall) and where the Saints picked Tyler Shough (No. 40).
Simpson talked about his ties to Monken last week and, if the Browns have solved both of their tackle situations early on Thursday night of the draft, getting into the Simpson sweepstakes might not be out of the question.
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Using the 38th pick to take a swing on one of the next tier of quarterbacks wouldn’t be the worst thing.
With both of those picks, however, it’s imperative to have a plan in place to allow some time to develop.
That’s where Watson and Sanders could really come into play: buying time.
As far as those two serving as the lead for the plan at the game’s most important position this offseason? I’ll wait to see it to actually believe it’s happening.
5. Don’t forget Baker Mayfield
Why is Mayfield instructive in this exercise?
Think back to the 2022 offseason. Even as Mayfield had apparently fallen out of favor, it felt like mending fences and keeping him as the starter would be the Browns’ only real option.
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Then Watson became available and the Browns pounced.
Obviously the decision didn’t work out, but there was no argument at the time of the trade that Watson was a more talented quarterback with a higher ceiling than Mayfield.
It’s easy this offseason to buy into the idea that the default is the best option, and maybe, when all is said and done, that will happen.
But Berry and Monken should be very careful tying their futures to the default. It’s easy to say you have time in March. It’s much harder when losses start piling up and the quarterbacks you decided were good enough for now aren’t getting the job done.
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Let’s move onto some other topics to wrap up our 10 takes this week:
6. The Tytus Howard trade
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Acquiring Howard and extending him falls in line with how we’ve seen Berry approach offensive line rebuilds in the past.
Back in 2020, when the Browns were in the market for two new tackles, he used free agency to add Jack Conklin on a three-year, $42 million deal. He later drafted Jedrick Wills Jr. with the 10th overall pick.
Now the Browns have acquired Howard for a fifth-round pick and given him a three-year, $63 million extension.
That extension likely means Howard is slated to start at one of the two tackle spots, but his ability to also play guard means, at the very least, he’ll be one of the team’s five starting linemen Week 1.
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If he does end up at guard, his $21 million yearly average would tie him for the fourth-largest guard contract in the league. At tackle, he would rank 16th.
The Browns can afford to be a little out of whack financially on the line, however, if they end up filling at least two spots with rookies on cost-controlled deals or veterans who might not demand top dollar.
This also gives Berry room to potentially trade out of the No. 6 pick and keep his options open at either tackle spot. It also doesn’t necessarily lock them into moving a rookie like Spencer Fano from right to left tackle.
All of this is to say that Berry’s first move, which cannot become official until the start of the new league year on March 11, fits with what we’d expect from a GM who needs to rebuild his line and also doesn’t like to get painted into a corner.
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7. Faith in Jerry Jeudy
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Berry sounded bullish on Jeudy last week after a challenging season.
“We have a lot of confidence in Jerry,” Berry said. “For a guy to produce how he did and, at 25 years old, break all the (franchise) records and play to his ability, we think if we can make our offense a bit more operational we can expect a bounce back.”
Berry said his struggles were a result of many of the things that caused the offense to struggle as a whole.
The reality is the Browns don’t have much of a choice but to try to get Jeudy back to his 2024 form. He carries a dead cap hit of $28.325 million this year if they cut him.
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Besides, for a team desperate for playmakers, it’s bad business to just give up on a soon-to-be 27-year-old receiver who has shown he can produce.
8. On QB competitions
Monken didn’t slam the door on a competition in training camp, but the most important part of his answer was when he pushed back against the idea.
“You would hope that by the time you get to training camp that the reps that you’re giving to a quarterback is for your starter,” he said.
With a remade offense, there’s no time for messing around. Pick a guy and get him ready to go Week 1.
Here are two final quick takes:
9. If I’m making the bet right now, I’m still leaning tackle with the Browns’ first pick in April, but it might not be at No. 6 overall.
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10. I’d also bet on adding a wide receiver in a trade, but maybe not someone as prominent as Amari Cooper or Jeudy.
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