The wait is almost over in Cleveland. Rookies report to Berea on July 23, veterans follow on July 28, and the most-watched quarterback battle in football finally moves from talking points to padded practices. New head coach Todd Monken refused to name a starter after minicamp, but do not let the coach-speak fool you. Shedeur Sanders should be the Browns starting quarterback when Week 1 arrives, and the case for him is stronger than the doubters want to admit.
Deshaun Watson is healthy again and pushing hard. Dillon Gabriel and rookie Taylen Green round out a crowded room. Four quarterbacks, one job, and a fanbase that has been burned too many times to accept another wrong answer. Here is why the second-year passer wins this thing.
Let’s start with what actually happened last season, because the raw numbers only tell half the story.
Sanders started the final seven games of 2025 and went 3-4. On a team that finished 4-12 overall, that record is not a footnote. It is the headline. The Browns won three of their four games with Sanders under center after winning just one game without him as the primary starter. The offense had a pulse for the first time all year.
Yes, the stat line was uneven: 1,400 passing yards, seven touchdowns, 10 interceptions, and a completion rate around 56 percent. Rookie quarterbacks throw picks, especially rookies dropped into a losing situation behind a patchwork offensive line. What matters is the trajectory, and the trajectory pointed straight up. His Week 14 performance against the Titans was the proof of concept: 364 passing yards, three touchdown throws, and a rushing score in a two-point loss. That was one of the best single games by a rookie passer in Browns history, and it earned him a Pro Bowl nod as a replacement by season’s end.
There were ugly moments too. The three-interception disaster against the Bears was as bad as it gets. But every young quarterback has that game. The question is whether he learned from it, and everything out of Berea this spring says he did.
Monken extended this competition into camp, and reporting from ESPN makes it clear why: Sanders closed the gap fast. According to ESPN’s breakdown of the competition, the coaching staff has been impressed by Sanders’ improvement in two specific areas, footwork and processing. Those are not throwaway compliments. Those are the two traits that decide whether a young quarterback survives in Monken’s system.
Think about what that means. A brand-new head coach with no loyalty to anyone in the building watched both quarterbacks all spring and still refused to hand the job to the veteran. If Watson had clearly outplayed Sanders in OTAs and minicamp, this competition would already be over. It is not over because Sanders would not let it be.
Monken says he wants to see both passers in game-like settings, with pads, a real pass rush, and preseason snaps. That is fair. It also favors the guy who played seven real NFL games last season over the guy who has barely played in two years.
This is the uncomfortable truth hanging over the entire competition. Watson tore his Achilles in October 2024, then re-ruptured the same tendon during his recovery and needed a second surgery within 12 weeks. He missed essentially all of the 2025 season. Before that, his Cleveland tenure was defined by suspensions, shoulder injuries, and some of the worst quarterback play the franchise has seen since its return in 1999. That is a brutally low bar, and he still found it.
Give Watson credit for battling back into this conversation at all. A double Achilles rupture ends most careers. But betting a season on a quarterback who has not stayed healthy for a full year since 2020 is exactly the kind of decision that gets coaching staffs fired. Monken knows it. The front office knows it. Even if Watson wins August, can anyone in Cleveland trust him to be standing in December?
Sanders, meanwhile, took his lumps behind a shaky line last season and kept getting up. Durability is a skill, and right now it is a skill only one of these two quarterbacks has shown.
Here is the thing about quarterback competitions between a fading veteran and an ascending young starter: the young guy only has to break even. The veteran has to win by a landslide, because everyone in the building knows where this is heading.
Sanders is the quarterback the fanbase has invested in emotionally. He is the quarterback whose jersey sells. More importantly, he is the only quarterback on this roster with a realistic chance of being the answer in 2027 and beyond. Watson’s contract saga is finally winding down, Gabriel profiles as a long-term backup, and Green is a sixth-round developmental flier. If the Browns bench Sanders for a stopgap and the season goes sideways anyway, they will have burned a year of his development for nothing.
We broke down the full room when this battle first took shape, and you can read that in our Browns quarterback competition training camp preview. The short version: nothing about this roster makes sense unless Sanders is the guy.
Do not expect an answer in July. Monken has been clear that padded practices and preseason games will decide this, which points to a decision in mid-to-late August. Keep an eye on the joint practice against the Bills on August 20. Sessions like that one, against a real defense with real stakes, are where coaches find their answers.
The first open practices kick off July 31, and every rep will be dissected. But barring an injury or a total August collapse, the outcome feels clear. Shedeur Sanders earned the first crack at this job with how he finished 2025, and he has spent the entire offseason strengthening his grip on it.
The Browns have started 40 different quarterbacks since 1999. Sanders has a real chance to be the one who finally ends the carousel. It is his job to lose.
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