Todd Monken isn’t ready to hand Deshaun Watson the Browns’ preseason opener job just yet.
Despite earlier reports suggesting Cleveland’s first-year head coach would announce Watson as the starter against the Chicago Bears on Aug. 15, Monken took a different approach Monday.
Per Scott Petrak of The Chronicle-Telegram and the Medina Gazette, he said the battle between Watson and second-year pro Shedeur Sanders is still alive. Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer also reported that Monken has not decided which quarterback will start against Chicago.
Monken did say the quarterback who does not start versus the Bears will get the nod for Cleveland’s home preseason game against the Buffalo Bills on Aug. 22.
Browns insider Tony Grossi of ESPN Cleveland/The Land on Demand has said the joint practice with Buffalo on Aug. 20 “is the most singularly important day of” Cleveland’s training camp. A later report also noted that “it stands to reason that” Monken will make his Week 1 QB1 decision before the Browns’ preseason finale against the New England Patriots on Aug.
The quarterback rotation itself created some buzz over the weekend. Watson took all the first-team reps on Saturday, even though Sanders had been expected to handle that work. Monken later said Sanders would get first-team reps on Monday, and he also dismissed the guesswork around his thinking, calling it “funny.”
Before speaking to reporters, Monken told Jarrett Bell of USA Today that the competition between Watson and Sanders is “close.” That still leaves the Browns in a holding pattern, at least publicly, even if the optics continue to suggest Watson is ahead.
For now, the situation appears set to stretch through at least the Aug. 22 game against Buffalo. Monken said, “After those two games, we’ll be closer to at least having a better idea,” when asked about the timing of his Week 1 decision, per Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk.
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