The Cleveland Browns’ decision to name Deshaun Watson the Week 1 starter is still hanging over Berea, and Todd Monken’s explanation only added another layer to the mess.
Monken said the call wasn’t made in a vacuum. “Those are organizational decisions, that’s the way it runs.
We talked about it. We had conversations about it, and we landed on this.”
That wording matters. Monken did not frame it as a clean coaching decision, and that’s why the conversation quickly turns to the person who has loomed over the Watson saga from the beginning: owner Jimmy Haslam.
The Browns spent the offseason calling it an open quarterback competition, even while admitting Watson had done “anything specific” to separate himself from Shedeur Sanders. Still, the team landed on Watson, the same quarterback who drew boos after a rough preseason performance and made his frustration with Cleveland and its fans obvious.
Haslam’s history with Watson is hard to ignore. In October of 2025, he told The Athletic, “A big trade we made didn't work out, and you know, we're all suffering from that,” while taking pressure off former head coach Kevin Stefanski. Before that, in March of 2025, he went even further.
“We took a big swing and miss with Deshaun. We thought we had the quarterback, we didn’t and we gave up a lot of draft picks to get him.
So we’ve got to dig ourselves out of that hole. [The trade] was an entire organization decision and it ends with Dee and I, so hold us accountable.”
That phrase - “an entire organization decision” - now sounds awfully familiar in light of Monken’s explanation. And if Haslam was willing to own the Watson trade in that moment, he also appears to be the same person keeping the whole thing alive now.
General manager Andrew Berry offered a similarly careful answer in November of 2024, shortly after Watson’s first Achilles’ injury, when he was asked whether the trade was an owner mandate.
“All of us were on board,” Berry said according to ESPN.
Berry could have simply said no if the decision had been his alone. Instead, he stayed in the same safe lane Monken used Saturday, refusing to put the weight of the move on one set of shoulders.
Haslam’s own comments after Stefanski was fired earlier this year fit the pattern, too. “I don't think there was one breaking point. I think you’ve got to look at the body of work.”
And when the owner wants everyone to know a call belongs to someone else, he has done that as well. After last year’s draft, Haslam said, “That’s Andrew Berry’s call. Andrew made the call to pick Shedeur.”
Now the Browns are heading into 2026 with the same owner attached to the same failed quarterback experiment, using the same kind of language to keep it going.
That’s what makes the quarterback competition feel so strange in the first place. If Watson was always the plan from above, why stage the whole thing at all?
For now, the answer seems to be the same stubborn dynamic that has followed this saga since the beginning. Haslam doesn’t appear interested in being wrong, and Monken’s comments sounded like more evidence of that than anything else.
In Other News...
Browns May Have Just Fueled A Steelers Contract Mess
Denzel Wards new extension is the latest reminder that the cornerback market keeps climbing, and it landed in a division where every financial move gets noticed. The Browns locked up Ward on a two-year, $62.2 million deal that pushes him to the top tier of NFL corners by average annual value, giving Cleveland another expensive cornerstone in a defense built to play aggressive, man-heavy football.
For Pittsburgh, the timing could hardly be worse. Joey Porter Jr. is now reportedly looking for a substantial raise in his own negotiations, and the Steelers are staring at a difficult decision if they cannot get the numbers where they need them. Trading a young corner of Porters caliber would be a major step, but the market for that kind of move may not bring back the kind of return Pittsburgh would want. [Read more 🡒]
Browns May Already Be Telling Fans How They View Shedeur Sanders
Shedeur Sanders arrived in Cleveland with plenty of intrigue, but the Browns have already made it clear where things stand at quarterback. Deshaun Watson remains the starter, Sanders has not been given much meaningful playing time, and the teams approach so far suggests a cautious, limited investment in his development rather than an immediate push to build around him.
The bigger clue may be looking a little farther down the road. Cleveland is expected to be in the market for a new quarterback in the 2027 draft, a timeline that naturally raises questions about Sanders long-term place on the roster. For a player who entered with so much attention, the Browns current handling of the position feels less like a bridge to something bigger and more like a sign that the eventual end of this story may already be taking shape. [Read more 🡒]
Browns Look Smarter For Moving On From Wyatt Teller
Wyatt Teller was once one of the Browns most reliable pieces up front, a three-time Pro Bowler whose presence helped define the middle of Clevelands offensive line. But after the 2025 season, the Browns let him move on, and the team has since turned the right guard job over to Teven Jenkins as it resets its interior line for 2026.
Tellers early days in Houston have only made Clevelands decision look a little more reasonable. His recent performance grades have slipped, and during Texans preseason action he has already been pushed into a backup role, a notable turn for a player who used to be a fixture in the Browns lineup. For Cleveland, the switch is less about nostalgia and more about whether the new look up front can hold its own without looking back. [Read more 🡒]