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Deshaun Watson has not taken an NFL snap since 2024. He sat out all of 2025. And yet, according to one analyst, he is still ahead of Shedeur Sanders for the starting job once training camp pads come on.
Tony Grossi, who covers the Browns for ESPN Cleveland and spent years on the beat at The Plain Dealer, laid out his read on the situation bluntly in a conversation with NFL content creator JaKi. Grossi does not expect the quarterback competition to be the defining story of this Browns season anyway. His focus is elsewhere.
"I think this is another year like last year where the most important stuff doesn't concern the quarterback position," Grossi said. "It's developing young players at other positions continuing to lay the foundation of the next really good Browns team."
His timeline points toward 2027, not now. But when asked directly about who starts in 2026, his answer was clear.
"I think Watson will emerge as the starter if he's healthy," Grossi said. "I think they view his ceiling as higher than Shedeur's. That doesn't mean Shedeur can't surprise me and win the job, but it would be a surprise to me if he did."
Sanders' numbers from 2025 do not make that verdict easy to argue against. In seven starts as a rookie, he completed 56.6% of his throws for 1,400 yards, seven touchdowns, and 10 interceptions.
Shedeur Sanders Leans Into Community While Browns QB Race Heats Up
Whatever the Browns decide when pads come on in the second week of training camp, Sanders is not sitting around waiting. The weekend before veterans report on July 28, he organized a free football camp at Brooklyn Memorial Stadium for more than 500 kids, operating under the Browns Give Back banner.
He and Watson had already been working together in Miami through voluntary skill-position practices designed to build chemistry before the Berea sessions began. Watson said those Miami workouts matter for building a cohesiveness within the offense that would endure throughout the regular season.
That collaborative tone carries into how Sanders describes the quarterback room.
"It's the same thing that we've been saying from day one, that we're both trying to be the best version of ourselves we could be," Sanders said per 92.3 The Fan's Daryl Ruiter. "It's a level of respect that we all in the quarterback room have for each other."
He addressed the pressure of competition the same way.
"We are not really emotional when it comes to things that we can't control," Sanders said. "We mainly focus on and thrive on getting better in work every day."
The youth camp undercut any narrative of a player consumed by contract positioning or competitive anxiety. Sanders spoke about the proximity to the community that athletes rarely get.
"I would say most of the time, usually athletes and everything, we're isolated more," Sanders told News 5 Cleveland. "So it's about getting in the community and just seeing everybody and seeing the inspiration that we give just by showing up."
Rookies report Thursday. The race, such as it is, starts then.
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