![\"Shedeur](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2254644549-e1775303891689.jpg\")
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Shedeur Sanders #12 of the Cleveland Browns <\/p>\n
A week ago, as the NFL\u2019s owners meetings in Phoenix were getting underway, we were told that the Cleveland Browns<\/a> were pointed a certain way at starting quarterback for 2026\u2013it was, according to NFL<\/a> Network insider Mike Garafolo, Deshaun Watson<\/a> who is in \u201cpole position<\/a>\u201d as the offseason program gets underway. That appeared to leave Shedeur Sanders<\/a>, the starter for the final seven games of last season, as the backup.<\/p>\n And certainly, the way Watson was talked about by Browns officials over the course of the week indicated that the Browns are not opposed to starting him as the QB1 throughout the offseason and into training camp. That would be a rough turn for Sanders, because it would basically mean he had to win back a job from a guy who had not played since October 2024.<\/p>\n Sanders had his struggles in 2025, but the Browns went 3-4 with him under center, not bad considering they were 2-8 with Dillon Gabriel<\/a> and Joe Flacco<\/a> as the starters.<\/p>\n Browns Will Have Shedeur Sanders vs. Deshaun Watson<\/p>\n The Browns\u2019 commitment to the Watson \u201cpole position,\u201d though, apparently depends on which network you watch. If fans of Sanders were despairing over Garafolo\u2019s declaration, they need only to flip over to ESPN, where a different picture is being painted\u2013there, it\u2019s Sanders who is the leader before the race starts.<\/p>\n The network\u2019s insider, Dan Graziano, appeared on the \u201cGet Up<\/a>\u201d program this week and said that\u2019s the sense around the Browns.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s how Graziano put it: \u201cThey do have a lot of people but Shedeur Sanders ended last season as the starter, and sort of reading tea leaves and talking to people, I think the most likely scenario here is he begins the offseason and opens the season as the starter.<\/p>\n \u201cI know the owner, Jimmy Haslam, said something about Deshaun Watson having a great chance. Deshaun Watson has players 19 games in the last five years\u2014they don\u2019t have any idea what they\u2019re going to get from him. He\u2019s under contract for one more year, they basically have to have him on the roster at this point. Could a light go on and he\u2019ll be fine? Possibly, but my sense of it is, Shedeur Sanders is the strongest candidate to open the season right now.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Browns Owner Spoke on Deshaun Watson<\/p>\n Haslam did declare that the Browns had some excitement about the return of Watson. As well he should\u2013he paid Watson a guaranteed, five-year, $230 million contract in 2022 and has gotten just 19 games for it.<\/p>\n \u201cDeshaun has a great chance, fresh start, offensive-minded coach, who has in his past been able to work with all kinds of different quarterbacks and make them successful,\u201d Haslam said. \u201cSo, Deshaun has a great chance to do that now.\u201d<\/p>\n Shedeur Sanders Has Been an Offseason Presence<\/p>\n But that should not preclude Sanders from having an equal chance of winning the Browns job. Coach Todd Monken also said last week that Sanders has been at the team training facility almost constantly since Monken got the job.<\/p>\n But Monken also said he intends to pick a QB1 early in the offseason and let that player have the job until he loses it\u2013he won\u2019t split QB1 reps between two players. If he tabs Watson from the outset, it will mean Sanders will need to dislodge Watson to win the job.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not ready to say that yet,\u201d Monken said<\/a> when asked who was the starter. \u201cI just said the reps can\u2019t be divided (evenly). There\u2019s no chance. At least on a daily basis.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/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 Shedeur Sanders #12 of the Cleveland Browns A week ago, as the NFL\u2019s owners meetings in Phoenix…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":853163,"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-853162","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\/116346497648506111","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853162","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=853162"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853162\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/853163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=853162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=853162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=853162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}