![\"Cleveland](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2248452520-e1775329327472.jpg\")
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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders.<\/p>\n
Tim Hasselbeck has said some harsh things about Shedeur Sanders. Now he\u2019s picking him to start for the Cleveland Browns<\/a> in Week 1.<\/p>\n Sanders will compete for the starting quarterback job in Cleveland next season alongside Dillon Gabriel and Deshaun Watson. New head coach Todd Monken has declined to name a frontrunner, framing it as an open competition<\/a>.<\/p>\n Hasselbeck, an ESPN analyst and former NFL<\/a> quarterback, made headlines in February<\/a> when he questioned whether Sanders could even hold down a backup job in the league. He said no team in the NFL would look at Sanders and want to build around him. He suggested Todd Monken wouldn\u2019t try to win with Sanders under center.<\/p>\n Fast forward to now, and Hasselbeck has done a 180 \u2014 at least when it comes to the Browns\u2019 current quarterback competition.<\/p>\n \u201cI really don\u2019t think Watson has a shot,\u201d Hasselbeck said on NFL Live. \u201cHe\u2019s been away from the game for so long. He has had two Achilles injuries. I think his credibility in the locker room has been compromised because of his past. I do think there\u2019s too many things with it. And so, I think Shedeur Sanders finds himself in a remarkable position.\u201d<\/p>\n Deshaun Watson Has Been Swing and Miss for Browns<\/p>\n The reversal on Sanders is worth noting given how pointed Hasselbeck\u2019s earlier criticism was. Back in February, Hasselbeck appeared on ESPN\u2019s Get Up<\/a> and was asked whether the Browns should enter 2026 planning to build around Sanders.<\/p>\n \u201cThere isn\u2019t a single team of the 32 that would look at him right now and be like, \u2018Yep, I want to build around that guy,\u2019\u201d Hasselbeck said. \u201cI\u2019m not saying that to be demeaning or mean. That\u2019s just, that is the reality of who he actually is as a player and how he is viewed around the league.\u201d<\/p>\n Watson is heading into the final year of his fully guaranteed $230 million contract<\/a>. He has appeared in just 19 games since 2022, going 9-10 as the starter. Two Achilles injuries forced him to miss all of last season.<\/p>\n Browns Have Publicly Praised Deshaun Watson<\/p>\n Cleveland\u2019s brass hasn\u2019t walked away from the idea of Watson starting games, at least publicly. Browns co-owner Jimmy Haslam insisted that Watson has a great chance to emerge as the team\u2019s Week 1 QB1.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cNow Deshaun 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 him successful,\u201d Haslam said. \u201cSo Deshaun has a great chance to do that now. We talked to him the other day. He said he weighed less than he had in several years, was in great shape. He\u2019ll be here on April 7th when we start (the offseason program) and let\u2019s see what Deshaun can do. We\u2019re all excited.\u201d<\/p>\n But the internal picture appears to be pointing in a different direction. Browns insider Zac Jackson of The Athletic says he feels \u201cstronger than ever\u201d that Sanders, not Watson, is the favorite to win the starting job,<\/a> noting that giving Sanders every chance to compete is \u201cclearly the best option right now.\u201d<\/p>\n Sanders entered the 2025 season fourth on the depth chart. When circumstances forced Cleveland\u2019s hand in November, he stepped in and started the final seven games of the year. Sanders went 3-4 in those starts, passing for 1,400 yards, seven touchdowns and 10 interceptions.<\/p>\n The numbers were rough. But Sanders was a fifth-round pick thrown into a rebuilding situation with no infrastructure around him. The Browns saw enough to keep the door open.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tJ.R. DeGroote<\/a> JR DeGroote is a staff writer for Heavy.com, where he has covered the NFL, NBA, and trending sports stories since 2019. His work focuses on some of the most passionate fanbases in sports, including reporting on the Cleveland Browns, Dallas Cowboys and Los Angeles Lakers. More about J.R. DeGroote<\/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 Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders. Tim Hasselbeck has said some harsh things about Shedeur Sanders. Now he\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":853779,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2054],"tags":[86,85,54,2337,7,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-853778","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\/116348008079971740","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853778","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=853778"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853778\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/853779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=853778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=853778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=853778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}