Browns QB Deshaun Watson has the job but draws a quiet no-confidence vote over Sanders

Deshaun Watson has Cleveland's quarterback job, and almost nobody around the team is treating it as a real endorsement. Todd Monken named the veteran his Week 1 starter over Shedeur Sanders, then spent the rollout insisting the fan reaction and one ugly preseason night played no part in it.

The trouble is that everything surrounding the decision points the other way. The reps, the booing, and the beat all read like doubt, even as the depth chart reads Watson.

The case against him is not hard to assemble. Across 19 games since his 2022 arrival, the three-time Pro Bowler owns a 9-10 record, 19 touchdown passes, 12 interceptions, and an 80.7 rating on 3,365 yards.

He has not thrown a regular-season pass since tearing his Achilles in October 2024. When he took the field at home in the preseason, the crowd booed him, and Watson called the reaction "a little bit more personal than that."

Sanders, meanwhile, gave fans a reason to push for him. He went 3-4 across seven starts as a rookie, completing 56.6 percent of his throws for 1,400 yards, seven touchdowns, and 10 interceptions. That was enough to make him the popular pick to unseat Watson this summer.

Monken went the other way anyway and now runs Sanders with the scout team. The decision is official. The confidence behind it is the part still in question.

Daryl Ruiter Sees Watson's Browns Job Sliding Toward Sanders During the Season

The loudest signal that Cleveland's order might not hold came from someone who watched it up close. Daryl Ruiter, appearing on 92.3 The Fan, said the two quarterbacks looked nearly even through camp, which is not what you want to hear about a starter the team just committed to.

"I just didn't see much separation between the two guys," Ruiter said. He added, "I think that Deshaun is more ready to play than Shedeur. But I think Shedeur, by the time we get into the season here, that can change. I think Shedeur will be ready to play, and ultimately this thing's going to get turned over to him at some point, for one reason or another."

That closing line is the whole no-confidence vote in a sentence. Ruiter is not betting on a clean benching over film. He is leaving the door open for the thing that has defined Watson's Browns run: availability. A quarterback rebuilding from an Achilles tear and carrying a long stretch of missed time holds his job on health as much as production.

There is a third arm worth tracking, too. Rookie Taylen Green flashed real ability in the preseason finale against New England, and his Arkansas tape backs it up.

He piled up 2,714 passing yards and 777 rushing yards last season while accounting for 27 total touchdowns. That dual-threat profile could shove him into the backup conversation before long. The job is Watson's today. Almost nobody expects it to stay that way.

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