Week 1 is supposed to be about fresh starts and clean slates. Instead, two NFL teams were already getting hit with tanking chatter before the first Sunday was even over.
In Cleveland, Jeff D. Lowe lit the fuse while the Browns were still in the middle of getting run over by Jacksonville.
With 30 minutes left in the game, he posted, “If the goal is to lose all of their games, then you gotta keep trotting Deshaun Watson out there.” He had already said playing Watson was the fastest way to the worst record in football.
The Jaguars finished the job, rolling to a 34-10 win. Trevor Lawrence threw four touchdowns, while Watson finished 16-of-22 for 205 yards, one score, one interception and five sacks. Cleveland’s opening drive also ended with an interception, and the first half in Jacksonville was already 24-0.
That’s the backdrop for why Lowe’s clip spread so quickly. Todd Monken had named Watson the starter over Shedeur Sanders, and Shedeur is still on the roster.
So when Watson took the field and Cleveland looked this rough out of the gate, the draft-position conversation was never far behind. Even the visor excuse only made the afternoon look uglier.
Miami got dragged into the same kind of talk for a different reason. Before the Dolphins even kicked off in Las Vegas, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk wrote, “Seven years ago, the Dolphins were seemingly trying to lose,” he wrote. “As the 2026 season begins, some in league circles are wondering whether the Dolphins are tanking all over again.”
That line landed because the old story never really went away. Stephen Ross had already been accused of paying Brian Flores to lose games during the 2019 chase for Joe Burrow.
The league later said Miami did not tank, but the suspicion lingered. With a new coach and a roster that looks thin, the label popped right back up on opening weekend.
The league hates this conversation in September. Tank talk usually waits for December.
This time, it showed up before dinner. One team started the quarterback most of the building doesn’t want.
The other walked into Las Vegas looking like a rebuild already in progress.
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Todd Monkens Week 1 Response Hit Browns Fans The Wrong Way
Todd Monkens postgame remarks after the Browns season-opening loss to the Jaguars did little to calm a frustrated fan base. Cleveland was beaten 34-10 as Jacksonville took control early and even had the luxury of pulling its starting quarterback in the fourth quarter, while Monken tried to strike a tone of disappointment mixed with confidence in his roster and coaching staff.
Monken also made clear he was not interested in the outside noise, saying he would not fire himself or his staff and that external opinions do not shape his decisions. For a team already facing scrutiny after a rough opener, those comments landed awkwardly, leaving Browns fans wondering whether the response matched the urgency of the performance. [Read more 🡒]
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Deshaun Watsons struggles stood out in a game where the Jaguars defense controlled too many of the important snaps, while Myles Harden also had a rough afternoon. Add in the penalties and the lack of success on third down, and the opener became less about one bad game than a reminder of the issues the Browns need to clean up fast if they want this season to look different from the last one. [Read more 🡒]
Browns Already Have A Draft Question Fans Didn't Want This Early
Week 1 has a way of making fans look ahead faster than they want to, and for Cleveland it already has the Browns thinking about the 2027 draft picture. After opening weekend, the projected board has them sitting eighth, with the Rams pick also headed their way at No. 12, a setup that gives the front office more early capital to work with even if the seasons first impression was hardly the one anyone in Northeast Ohio wanted.
The bigger issue is where the rest of the order sits around them, because the top of the board is already taking shape and Tampa Bay is currently in the No. 1 slot. It is far too early for anything to feel settled, but the Browns are already staring at a draft question that says plenty about how quickly the season can turn a teams attention from present-tense hope to long-range planning. [Read more 🡒]