The Cleveland Browns haven’t even had their first practice yet under new head coach Todd Monken, but the open quarterback competition he plans to hold has already had a different winner declared by the media multiple times. The timing of this speculation is questionable at best, because there’s still an outside chance that someone else will join the battle that is currently focused on Deshaun Watson and Dillon Gabriel.
Much like last year’s four-man fight under former head coach Kevin Stefanski, Sanders seems to be the people’s choice, with a vocal legion of supporters pleading that someone just give him a chance. Watson has his supporters, too, perhaps even Browns owner Jimmy Haslam, but there are reasons many fans don’t want the veteran anywhere near the team for reasons that have nothing to do with football.
Insider Zac Jackson of The Athletic is the latest to weigh in on the upcoming confrontation, and he is naming Sanders as the favorite to win the Browns’ QB starting job, almost by default.
“But I feel stronger than ever that Sanders, not Watson, is the favorite to win the starting job. Sanders is 24 and signed for three more seasons. He was never the team’s Plan A last season and might not be Plan A for the future, but giving Sanders every chance to win the job and make real progress is clearly the best option right now. I think there will be a true competition. Based on the team’s history, it’s hard to predict much of anything. But the most direct path to the Browns escaping the Watson mess — every bit the ‘swing and miss‘ Haslam called it last year — is Sanders taking the job and providing at least league-average quarterback play for an evolving and talent-deficient offense,” Jackson wrote.
Both sides have been active on social media lately, showing how their QB candidate is getting ready for the season. It seems whenever a video is posted of one going through a training session, a counter is posted from the other one.
Each quarterback has a lot more working against them than they have going for them. Watson is an oft-injured player who has not been on the field in 18 months and did not distinguish himself for Cleveland even when he was. Sanders is a fifth-round pick with some work ethic concerns who is coming off one of the worst statistical performances by a QB in recent history.
That is why there is a small but vocal contingent pushing for the Browns to add Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson in the 2026 NFL Draft. If that does turn out to be the surprising case, he almost certainly will be the preferred candidate of some to start right away as a rookie.
In hindsight, Monken may have been better served either declaring a starter or saying it was Sanders’ job to lose, if only to quiet the noise until his team actually starts to practice.
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