Todd Monken’s latest words have NFL fans reading the Browns’ quarterback situation a little differently.
The question hanging over Cleveland has been whether the QB1 job is still truly open between Shedeur Sanders and Deshaun Watson. Monken has said the competition remains alive this preseason, but Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk thinks the first-year head coach may have already shown his hand.
In a column this morning, Florio pointed to Monken’s comments from Tuesday and argued they sound a lot like a decision has already been made. The biggest clue, in his view, is the plan for this week’s joint practice with the Bills and Browns. Monken said the teams want their starters to get work in a more controlled setting and will not play them in Saturday’s game.
That detail stood out to Florio because Sanders is expected to start this weekend. “Monken said that, with the Bills and Browns due to engage in a joint practice this week, the mutual plan is to get the starters work in a more controlled environment, and to not play them during Saturday’s game.
So with Sanders due to start this weekend, does that mean he’s not a starter?” the PFT founder posed.
He then raised the bigger issue: if the battle were still genuinely undecided, why wouldn’t Monken give Sanders a true first-team look? “If the competition truly hasn’t been privately resolved, wouldn’t Monken want to give Shedeur a full and fair chance to run the first-team offense?
Wouldn’t that provide the closest thing to an apples-to-apples comparison between Watson’s Week 1 start and Sanders’s opportunity in Week 2?” he asked.
Florio’s read is that keeping Watson out there with backup-level players around him would suggest the answer is already settled. “If Watson doesn’t play with second- and third-stringers on the field, that points to the possibility that Monken has already decided Watson will be the Week 1 starter,” Florio predicted.
He also floated another possibility: Monken may be easing into the move because he knows Browns fans won’t love it. Either way, this weekend is shaping up as a major clue about where Cleveland is headed at quarterback.
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Shedeur Sanders Just Put New Pressure On The Browns QB Battle
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The interception was the kind of play that tends to linger in a quarterback battle, especially when the decision-making looked sound but the result still went the wrong way. Sanders admitted afterward that the ball slipped on him, leaving the Browns with another data point to weigh as the preseason moves along and the pressure on the position keeps building. [Read more 🡒]
Todd Monken Sent A Clear Message At Browns Camp Monday
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The sharp edge carried into a run period when Adin Huntington delivered a hit on Quinshon Judkins, prompting Todd Monken to step in and reset the drill. The incident was enough to tighten the entire session, and it served as another reminder that camp is moving from evaluation mode toward the kind of physical, detail-driven football the Browns expect when the games start to count. [Read more 🡒]
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The vision goes well beyond a standard modern venue. The stadium is planned to sit in an 80-foot-deep hole, topped by a transparent folded-plate roof and a steeply sloped Dawg Pound section modeled after European soccer supporter stands, with a 50-foot video board looming above it. It is the kind of design that will excite some fans and leave others debating whether Cleveland is building a football cathedral or something far more unconventional. [Read more 🡒]