New Browns Head Coach’s QB Mystery: Brilliant Chess Move or Dangerous 2026 Gamble?
Instead of naming an outright starting quarterback heading into the preseason opener on Saturday, the first-year Cleveland Browns head coach is keeping the nearly four-month-long quarterback competition between Deshaun Watson and Shedeur Sanders alive. The Browns revealed their unofficial depth chart yesterday, and at the QB1 spot, fans were surprised to see this: Deshaun Watson OR Shedeur Sanders. Using the word “or” is not a usual sight for depth charts-even if the battle is still ongoing, why not just have one ahead for the sake of stability? Speaking of stability, these last few weeks have been anything but stable for Monken’s Browns.
Tempers flared between Spencer Fano and Jared Verse last weekend, and to kick off this week of practice, more calamities have followed. Monken has been at an all-time high in terms of emotions, and it’s safe to say he’s not happy. The 60-year-old coaching veteran used expletive language at a reporter after the media member asked if Monken suggested that Watson was performing better than Sanders after the coach said the former Tiger was “getting better.” Still, he didn’t mean better than the second-year fan favorite. Add to that reports of the former Baltimore Ravens offensive coordinator getting so angry at pre-snap penalties that he slammed his radio and canceled practice short. It becomes easier to say that this season may be falling apart before it moves from Berea to Cleveland.
Switching back to his reluctance to name a starting quarterback, one could argue that it’s getting a bit stale. Even if you feel that you can’t make the call yet, putting one behind the other may motivate the benched signal-caller into balling out in the preseason-if that were to be Sanders, fans would get a huge boost of confidence, especially if he won the job. Additionally, the move sort of signals a vote of no confidence in both the veteran and newcomer, which has Cleveland’s fans preparing for another wasted season of football. It may make for an intriguing battle and good storylines. Still, from a football perspective, it also welcomes instability and turmoil to a franchise that is all too familiar with both. The ‘Dawg Pound’ will just have to wait and see, but for now, this move is just pouring more gasoline on an already toxic and flammable offseason discussion.
