Shedeur Sanders has 'big day' at Browns OTAs that's good news for starting QB job

The Cleveland Browns made headlines as June began with the stunning Myles Garrett trade, and a lot of the attention at OTAs was on newcomer Jared Verse and the reaction to the Garrett trade.

But, there's something else worth noting from the third OTA session of the offseason under new head coach Todd Monken: the quarterback battle.

Shedeur Sanders, according to ESPN's Tony Grossi, had a "big day" that goes beyond his strong numbers that ESPN Cleveland shared from the third open OTA session. This also bodes well for Sanders to win the starting QB battle for Monken's offense.

Shedeur Sanders has 'big day' at Browns OTAs, good news for QB battle

At Browns OTAs, ESPN Cleveland shared the following statistics for the Browns quarterbacks: "Sanders: 7/15, 3 TDs, 0 INTs. Watson: 9/17, 2 TDs, 1 INTs. Gabriel: 4/5, 1 TDs, 0 INTs."

The Browns quarterback competition is still clearly between Sanders and Deshaun Watson. Last week, it looked like Watson had the leg up on Sanders for the QB job.

But, this statistical comparison favors Sanders, and as Grossi notes, "Big day for Shedeur Sanders. More than the numbers."

While Grossi didn't elaborate further, the Browns QB competition might've taken a turn in Sanders' favor after Wednesday's OTA session.

MORE: Taylen Green has a much higher ceiling for Browns than Shedeur Sanders

Sanders was getting more work during Wednesday's OTAs, and based on this comment from Grossi and the statistical comparison, Sanders is trending in the right direction.

Monken wants to decide on the team's starting quarterback sooner rather than later. ESPN's Daniel Oyefusi shared that Monken believes, "We got two starting-level quarterbacks.”

This belief from Monken is proof, only that Dillon Gabriel isn't viewed as a starting QB, but that the Watson and Sanders battle is going to be a tight one.

Watson looked to be the frontrunner recently, but this update from Grossi and ESPN Cleveland after the third open session of OTAs seems to indicate some good news for fans hoping to see Sanders win the QB battle.

Nothing is official yet, but if the tea leaves are being read correctly here, then Sanders seems to be trending in the right direction to win the starting QB job in 2026.

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