The Cleveland Browns have named Deshaun Watson the starter for the team’s season opener at the Jaguars, beating out Shedeur Sanders for the starting role, per CBS Sports’ Matt Zenitz. It will be Watson’s first game since Oct. 10, 2024, when he tore his Achilles. He re-tore his Achilles in early January 2025, causing him to miss all of last year.
The decision comes just two days after Watson took several shots at Browns fans following his poor performance in preseason Week 2 against the Bills. Watson was just 5 of 12 passing for 35 yards and an interception, playing with (and against) backups in the third and fourth quarters while boos rained down.
“I think the whole world knows it has nothing to do about the performance,” Watson said. “It’s a little bit more personal than that. So, I think it’s a disrespectful thing.”
Browns coach Todd Monken insisted Sunday that the comments wouldn’t affect his quarterback choice, and they didn’t.
“Deshaun is going to start against Jacksonville,” Monken told reporters on Monday. “(I) took in the full body of work over the course of offseason to training camp to the games, the joint practice, and ultimately felt like to start the season on the road Deshaun gave us the best chance to move the ball and score points — I mean that’s really what it’s about. I felt that way going into last game but wasn’t sure, and after we talked as a staff and after we relooked at everything, we’re gonna go that direction.”
Watson issued an opening-statement apology when he met with the media, shortly after the starting announcement had been made.
“First off, I want to address the comments from Saturday after the game,” Watson said. “I think just human nature, just myself being very emotional, putting a lot of time these last two years to get back and spend time in this facility, in the city, meeting a lot of people in the community, I thought I was gonna get a little different response.
“But I think my emotions got the best of me, and my comments wasn’t intending to go at any of the fans around in the city, because there’s been a lot of great fans that have been supporting me, and I know the frustration. This organization has put a lot of investment in coming to get me back in ’22, and things haven’t been going the right direction that we thought it was, you know, a lot of injuries, a lot of time off and not putting the best football and my foot forward. Again, I understand the frustration, I understand everything that kind of goes into that, and moving forward, I just want to focus on football, making sure that I’m putting the best product out there, having the best ability.”
Monken said he doesn’t anticipate the question of starting quarterback being a week-to-week issue, and while Watson won the job, the coach praised Sanders for closing the gap on the veteran through the preseason.
“I think Shedeur has done a great job, come a long ways and we are excited about his future,” Monken said.
Watson was regarded as a slight leader for much of the quarterback battle, often earning the first reps with the first team, even if the overall reps with the starters ended up somewhat evenly split. Watson started in preseason Week 1 alongside starters, while Sanders started in preseason Week 2 with mostly backups. Even so, Monken, in his first year as a head coach, said the competition played out in “the best way I thought we could go about it.”
Watson, who turns 31 the day after the Browns’ season opener, has been a monumental disappointment in Cleveland, and his acquisition has been regarded as one of the worst in major professional sports history. In 2022, the Browns traded 2022, 2023 and 2024 first-round picks, a third-round pick and two fourth-round picks to the Houston Texans for Watson and a sixth-round pick. The Browns then gave Watson an unprecedented, fully guaranteed five-year, $230 million contract.
At the time, Watson faced 22 civil lawsuits related to allegations of sexual misconduct at massage therapy sessions. The number eventually grew to 27. All 27 have been resolved, with at least 24 ending in confidential settlements. The last two were dismissed — at least one with a settlement — earlier this year. The Texans also previously reached confidential settlements with 30 women over claims regarding Watson.
Watson did not play at all in his final season in Houston (2021) and was suspended for the first 11 games of 2022 after being traded to Cleveland. In total, he has appeared in just 19 games since the trade, and he was among the NFL’s worst quarterbacks when on the field.
|
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Completion percentage
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61.2%
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40th
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Net yards per attempt
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5.4
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43rd
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Sack rate
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11.2%
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43rd
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EPA per dropback
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-0.19
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43rd
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The Browns hope an improved supporting cast helps lift Watson. Cleveland overhauled its offensive line, bringing in four new starters, and drafted wide receiver KC Concepcion in the first round and wide receiver Denzel Boston in the second round. Both have impressed in training camp and are expected to start right away. The Browns also return tight end Harold Fannin Jr. and running back Quinshon Judkins after both had impressive rookie years.
This is the final year of Watson’s contract.
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As Monken said Saturday, the second preseason game was just another data point in a set of hundreds, ranging far past games and even practices. And as he said Sunday, Watson’s comments about the fans wouldn’t impact his decision. He appears to have held true to both.
Watson had been the front-runner, even if ever so slightly, for quite a bit, according to various reports. His chance to start in the first preseason game, alongside the starters, was an indication of that, even if Monken said both Watson and Sanders would each get a preseason start (something he held true to as well). For as poorly as Watson played Saturday, he held up decently — nothing special, but nothing disastrous — the previous week, and Monken described his return to playing football as “awesome.”
Watson’s experience and ability to function in the offense were also keys; after all, he has been in far more NFL offenses, including those with more parallels to Monken’s. Furthermore, Watson impressed this offseason with his approach and work ethic, per “NFL on CBS” sideline reporter Aditi Kinkhabwala.
“In all the years I have been around Deshaun Watson, this is the best that he is mentally,” Kinkhabwala told 92.3 The Fan last week. “The space that he is in right now, his focus, the way that he stayed in Cleveland all summer, went to work quietly every day, didn’t ask anything of any of the staff in the building at all, was simply focused on living with his wife and working on football and his rehab. Just the conversations I have with him on the side — different.”
It is also worth noting, in light of Watson’s most recent comments, that the Browns’ first two games — Week 1 at the Jaguars and Week 2 at the Buccaneers — are on the road.
“I feel like I get more love on road games than I do home games,” Watson said. “If it is my spot and he does makes me the [starter], maybe it’s 17 away games then. I don’t know.”
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