Cleveland’s quarterback plan is coming into focus, and it doesn’t leave much room for Shedeur Sanders believers.
Todd Monken laid out the week on Monday, and the setup told the story. Sanders took all of the first-team snaps in a lighter practice after the preseason opener against the Chicago Bears.
Deshaun Watson got the starter work on Tuesday in full pads. Sanders will be back in that rotation on Wednesday, when the team is in no pads, and the two quarterbacks are expected to alternate with the starters in some form during Thursday’s joint practice with the Buffalo Bills.
Monken also said Sanders will start Saturday’s preseason game against Buffalo at Huntington Bank Field. What he couldn’t say yet was who Sanders will be lining up with. The Browns may hold out most of their starters depending on how much work they get in Thursday’s practice.
That’s the reality of this situation: Monken keeps Sanders in the conversation, but the team’s actions keep pointing elsewhere. ESPN’s Mike Greenberg put that tension into sharp relief on Tuesday morning’s edition of Get Up.
“Shedeur Sanders getting drafted where he got drafted gives you a preconceived notion even though it has nothing to do with what’s going on right now," Greenberg said. "They’re not developing him like they’re trying to make him the starter, like he’s their guy going forward.
He’s not getting all the work. He’s not getting all the reps.
He’s gonna look like a young player because he’s not being treated like a guy they’re trying to develop.”
That’s the heart of the issue. The Browns can talk about Sanders having a chance to start this year and possibly being the quarterback of the future, but the usage doesn’t match the message.
Sanders started seven games in 2025 despite getting the Taylen Green treatment in training camp. With Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett, and Dillon Gabriel ahead of him on the depth chart, he only got a small slice of the practice work after an injury to Pickett opened the door.
This summer’s setup hasn’t done him many favors either. Monken has split first-team reps between Watson and Sanders throughout camp, but Sanders still had his turn skipped on Saturday, Aug. 8, when Watson took the practice work instead. Then Sanders sat through the first half of the Bears game before coming out for the third quarter with Dawand Jones at left tackle and a makeshift group of backup offensive linemen.
The result was uneven, which is hardly a shock given the circumstances.
At this point, Monken appears close to making the call Browns fans have been bracing for. Maybe it comes Monday.
Maybe it comes before then. Either way, the direction feels pretty clear now.
If Cleveland isn’t going to seriously prepare Sanders for a real 2026 run at the job, there isn’t much point in pretending he’s the answer for Sept. 13 at Jacksonville.
The Browns haven’t exactly hidden their intentions, either. The $46 million Watson looks set to open the season as QB1, and that would just be the latest sign that Sanders’ path in Cleveland has been more talk than commitment.
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