The Cleveland Browns will open training camp without a starting quarterback. Head coach Todd Monken declined to name one after mandatory minicamp in June, extending the competition between second-year passer Shedeur Sanders and veteran Deshaun Watson into camp, which begins when rookies report to Berea on July 23. Around here, we’ve learned to ask for evidence before belief. For once, the evidence is worth reading.
Sanders’ rookie year was genuinely uneven: seven touchdowns against 10 interceptions across eight games as the starter. But ESPN’s Daniel Oyefusi reported the specific problem and the specific progress. Per NFL Next Gen Stats, Sanders averaged 3.24 seconds to throw in 2025, the longest in the league from his debut in Week 11 onward, and 18.9 percent of his attempts came after four seconds — the NFL’s second-highest rate of extended throws. Holding the ball that long got him hit: 14 pressures on those long dropbacks, third most in the league over that stretch. The spring was built around fixing exactly that. Quarterbacks coach Mike Bajakian drilled footwork tied to the timing of each concept, the staff put GoPro cameras on quarterbacks’ helmets to track where their eyes go in a progression, and general manager Andrew Berry called the resulting growth “phenomenal.” Monken’s own assessment was more measured and more useful: “It just feels like he’s making quicker decisions. The ball’s coming out of his hands.”
Watson’s side of the ledger is thinner on data because it has to be. He has not played since Oct. 20, 2024, after twice tearing his Achilles, and while ESPN’s reporting had him entering the spring as the favorite, Sanders closed at least some of the gap by June. Watson’s case rests on experience and on how his body holds up when the hitting starts; there is no recent film to argue from.
That is why Monken’s caution reads as method rather than indecision. Everything Sanders improved this spring — quicker processing, faster feet, decisive throws — was demonstrated without pads, without a live rush, and largely scripted. Monken has said plainly that he wants to see both quarterbacks in game-like settings, padded practices and possibly preseason games before he chooses. The one real reason to believe: the flaw that defined Sanders’ rookie tape has been named, measured and worked on all offseason. Camp will show whether it’s actually gone.
