![\"Deshaun](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-1672328358-e1775051366339.jpg\")
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Deshaun Watson #4 of the Cleveland Browns <\/p>\n
It\u2019s not been a great week for the proponents of Cleveland Browns<\/a> second-year quarterback Shedeur Sanders<\/a>, who closed out last season as the team\u2019s starter, going 3-4 over the final seven games of the year\u2013not bad for a team that was 1-8 when he took over. As the incumbent, Sanders would seem to have the upper hand in landing as the team\u2019s starter in 2026, especially because the Browns brought in no new free-agent additions. They are, though, getting Deshaun Watson<\/a> back into the fold.<\/p>\n And that\u2019s trouble for Sanders.<\/p>\n Watson is coming back from two Achilles tendon surgeries, and has not played since October 2024. But in parsing the way that the Browns talked about Watson from all three levels\u2013owner Jimmy Haslam, GM Andrew Berry and coach Todd Monken\u2013it certainly appears that Watson will get first crack at the QB1 job this offseason. That\u2019s not to say that the team doesn\u2019t like Sanders, just that the priority appears to be on wrenching out whatever talent might be left in Watson.<\/p>\n Browns Momentum Favoring Deshaun Watson<\/p>\n Before the owners meetings started, NFL Network insider Mike Garafolo noted<\/a> that the Browns were giving \u201cpole position\u201d to Watson. Then Haslam, who got headlines last year for declaring the Watson acquisition a \u201cswing and miss,\u201d changed his tune by saying Watson actually still has a \u201cgreat chance\u201d with the Browns in 2026.<\/p>\n On top of that, Monken noted that the Browns will not split QB1 reps evenly in the offseason, that they\u2019ll pick a starter and let the backup try to win the job from there. Considering what had already come out about Watson\u2013though no one said it directly\u2013the arrow seems to be pointing to him as the initial starter in Cleveland.<\/p>\n GettyCleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Dashaun Watson a \u2018Very Real\u2019 Part of QB Picture<\/p>\n NFL<\/a> insider Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated noted as much this week, citing the Browns\u2019 \u201cmessaging\u201d on their quarterback situation and adding that the team can\u2019t afford to push off Watson elsewhere and have him succeed after he leaves, given the trade the team made for him in 2022.<\/p>\n Writes Breer<\/a>: \u201cI\u2019d pay attention to some of the Browns messaging on Deshaun Watson<\/a>\u2014I believe he\u2019s a very real part of the team\u2019s quarterback picture for 2026\u2026. What would make the trade they did in 2022 look even worse is if they just made him sit on the bench in 2026, and then saw him pull a Sam Darnold or Baker Mayfield somewhere else in \u201827. So to me, it makes sense to get one last look at him this fall.<\/p>\n Browns Trade Was a Disaster<\/p>\n Breer argues, too, that Watson has the best chance to make the Browns competitive in the short term. While he doesn\u2019t much mention Sanders, it\u2019s still possible that the browns could use this season to develop Sanders more and make him a viable option for 2027.<\/p>\n And the optics from the trade do matter. Remember, it\u2019s not just the $235 million in guaranteed money the Browns sunk into Watson, it was the blowing up of three years of draft capital, sending out first-round picks in 2022, 2023 and 2024, plus two fourth-rounders and a third-rounder.<\/p>\n The cherry on top of that was the fact that the Browns cut Mayfield as a precursor to the deal for Watson, who was coming off three straight Pro Bowl seasons in Houston. Mayfield has gone 27-24 as the Buccaneers<\/a> quarterback since 2023, with two Pro Bowl appearances. Watson is just 9-10 in his entire Browns career.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tSean Deveney<\/a> is a veteran sports reporter covering the NBA, NFL and MLB for Heavy.com. He has written for Heavy since 2019 and has more than two decades of experience covering the NBA, including 17 years as the lead NBA reporter for the Sporting News. Deveney is the author of 7 nonfiction books, including “Fun City,” “Before Wrigley became Wrigley,” and “Facing Michael Jordan.” More about Sean Deveney<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Browns\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Deshaun Watson #4 of the Cleveland Browns It\u2019s not been a great week for the proponents of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":847335,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2054],"tags":[86,85,54,2337,7,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-847334","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cleveland-browns","8":"tag-browns","9":"tag-cleveland","10":"tag-cleveland-browns","11":"tag-clevelandbrowns","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116330107363213095","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847334","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=847334"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847334\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/847335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=847334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=847334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=847334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Cleveland](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2242429665-2-e1768956467491.jpg\")
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