NFL Insider Jason La Canfora Speaks On The Cleveland Browns QB Battle Ahead Of Next Season

There are almost no true quarterback competitions in the NFL this summer. Some will try to convince you that the Cleveland Browns have an open and robust battle going on for their starting job.

Don’t buy it.

There are $230M reasons to point to Deshaun Watson having to go out and earn his paycheck this season in the final year of his fully guaranteed deal. There was every reason to believe owner Jimmy Haslam, with a hapless tenure in charge, would try to squeeze something out of what’s been one of the worst transactions in modern pro sports history.

It was always smart to follow the money in this instance, and now with one preseason game behind Watson and second-year pro Shedeur Sanders, rival executives are convinced Watson will be their Week 1 starter (and have been all along).

"Haslam isn’t paying Watson $50M to watch Sanders play," is how one general manager handicapped this situation for me this offseason. "That’s not a fair fight."

Another longtime personnel executive told me: "If Watson’s on the roster and Watson’s healthy, Watson’s playing."

Monken himself was far more ebullient about Watson’s performance than you may have expected, he believes Watson checked boxes in practice and in the huddle and on the field "was this still fun for him to play?" Monken said, answering in the affirmative.

While the coach said there were some throws Watson would want back he offered: "It was fun watching him play."

Like we said: Follow the money.

That’s how pro sports work. The very fact that Watson is still on the Browns roster and hasn’t been bought out after playing so horribly and being so injured so often – and despite being acquired while facing credible accusations of sexual misconduct that would result in a lengthy suspension – spoke volumes about how this would go down.

Rookie head coach Todd Monken is working for an owner willing to chew up coaches and spit them out, Monken is hardly carrying the jam to operate with the high-paid back-up in NFL history and the reality is none of his quarterback options are any good.

It became even more clear which way this was going last week, when Watson all of a sudden started getting extra work with the starting offense when it was Sanders’ turn in the rotation.

Sanders was one of the most polarizing QB prospects in the 2025 draft, he was the second QB Cleveland used a late-round pick on, he had a very mixed bag operating as a rookie, and he continues to cause himself problems with things he does and says, apologizing to the media again last week.

Sanders would have had to produce a sterling first three weeks of practice and sparkling exhibition debut to really add intrigue to this untenable QB room.

He has done none of the above, and while Watson has been tepid and tentative and doesn’t want to rely on his legs much anymore or push the ball down the field, he is a former All Pro QB, he’s made a lot of money to play very little and is set to make his final $46M (fully guaranteed) this season.

He’s been better than Sanders all along based on everything we’ve heard from Browns camp, and while nothing Watson did Saturday afternoon in Chicago will or could engender any real excitement or optimism among Browns fans.

This team is in tank-mode still after trading its best player to the Rams a few months ago (future Hall of Fame pass rusher Myles Garrett) – he was better than Sanders. Low bar to clear, but still.

Watson did lead a scoring drive and he was adept at the check down game and found his shots against the pass rush and was let down by a key drop. He didn’t even try to push the ball downfield more than 10 yards, and when bodies did flood the pocket he looked apprehensive.

Sanders is doing the same at a fraction of the cost. Watson got rookie KC Concepcion involved – he is going to be a big piece of a bad offense – and he made a few well-placed throws to the sideline.

Completing 11 of 15 passes for 126 yards in the first half against the Bears back-ups isn’t going to get anyone fired up. He also had a turnover when shaky under pressure on a fourth down late in the half. But his accuracy wasn’t egregious. His decision making was good enough compared to the other passers.

Sanders, some thought, might play most of the second half, but he was gone by the fourth quarter, replaced by Dylan Gabriel.

Sanders hit one shot downfield on his first drive, but that bogged down in the redzone, Sanders didn’t seem at ease or aggressive either, he misfired on several passes and had an ugly overthrow for an easy interception that ended his afternoon.
Gabriel came on and did the same thing. Sorry Cleveland!

Browns fans detested Haslam throwing money at Watson until he finally agreed to take it, despite his off-field activities becoming a national scandal, they are stuck with him for one more year.
As much as Watson wanted to be in Atlanta, until Haslam made him an offer he couldn’t refuse, he is now stuck with the Browns for another season.

He’s going to walk with the full $230M. To this point he’s played just 19 games for them and thrown 12 interceptions to just 19 touchdowns with a pathetic QB rating of 80.7.

It’s been a disaster, but it’s an expensive disaster and the bill is still being paid. Even if Sanders gets the start in the next exhibition game, it’s all optics at this point. Watson will have to earn his money.

Haslam knows as well as anyone that Watson is 9-10 in those games, which by Browns standards is pretty damn decent.

The sad reality is the Browns will most likely see more than they’d like of all three quarterbacks, anyway, with Watson another injury waiting to happen given his misgivings in the pocket, and Cleveland’s front office already keeping a close eye on the 2027 quarterback class in the draft.