“Watson’s Final Shot”: NFL Analyst Keeping an Eye on Cleveland Browns QB Deshaun Watson During Mandatory Minicamp This Week
The Cleveland Browns finished with a 5-12 record last season and went through three different quarterbacks. There is a good chance that Cleveland could start multiple quarterbacks once again in the 2026 NFL season. One of the biggest stories for quarterback competition this offseason will be Deshaun Watson and Shedeur Sanders.
Sanders was the starting quarterback at the end of last season for the Browns. Watson did not play a single game for Cleveland a season ago. He is in the final year of his contract with the team. There have been some reports that Watson currently has the edge as the starting quarterback for the Browns over Sanders. It will be interesting to see how mandatory minicamps and training camp goes for the both of them.
NFL Analyst Keeping an Eye on Cleveland Browns QB Deshaun Watson During Mandator Minicamp This Week
Mike Jones of the Athletic is watching many different storylines across the NFL as mandatory minicamp begins this week. He thinks one of the things to watch out for is the battle of the Browns starting quarterback between Watson and Sanders. Jones said,
“The Browns shook up the league when they traded the NFL’s all-time single-season sack leader, Myles Garrett, to the Los Angeles Rams last week, and now, the biggest question hanging over the Browns involves who will start at quarterback. First-year head coach Todd Monken has rotated veteran Deshaun Watson and second-year pro Shedeur Sanders with the first team for much of OTAs, and that approach will likely continue during minicamp.
This could represent the oft-injured Watson’s final shot at a starting job with the Browns, who acquired him from Houston in 2022 and gave him a fully guaranteed $230 million contract despite the personal conduct scandal that hung over him at the time. Since then, Watson has played in only 19 of 68 possible games, most recently missing 10 games in 2024 and all of 2025 while rehabbing from a ruptured Achilles tendon. Sanders, meanwhile, aims to rebound from a trying rookie campaign that saw him start the final seven games of 2025 while managing just seven touchdown passes and 10 interceptions and completing only 56.6 percent of his passes.
Monken has said he wants to have the starting job determined before training camp, so minicamp could serve as the final audition for both Watson and Sanders.”
This battle is probably going to last into training camp, but the Browns would like to have a true number one starter by the time training camp starts. For now, it feels like Watson has the lead over Shedeur here.
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