The Browns are 4-2, sitting on top of the AFC North, and still somehow looking like a team waiting to wake up on offense. That’s the strange place Todd Monken is living in right now. Cleveland keeps finding ways to win, but the numbers behind the offense are ugly enough to make a coach uneasy.
Through six weeks, the Browns are averaging 267.5 yards per game, which ranks 29th in the NFL, and 17.7 points per game, good for 28th. The ground game has been especially thin at 94 rushing yards a game, 24th in the league, and the passing attack isn’t much better at 173.5 yards per game, 25th. For a team that keeps collecting wins, that’s an odd mix - a defense carrying the load while the offense scrapes together just enough late.
That pattern has put Monken in a familiar spot after games. Win or lose, he keeps coming back to the same message: the offense has to be better.
He praises the fight, he points to the late-game response, and he keeps circling back to the same truth. At some point, if the production doesn’t improve, the question becomes whether a change is coming.
And yes, that means the unthinkable: a quarterback switch while the Browns are still winning.
Deshaun Watson has not been the same player for three quarters of these games as he has been in the fourth. ESPN reporter Daniel Oyefusi pointed out that Watson owns a 22.6 QBR in the first three quarters, which ranks 32nd out of 33 qualifying quarterbacks, but jumps to a 70.4 QBR in fourth quarters, ninth in the league.
That split tells the story. Watson has been clutch late, but early in games he’s been holding the ball, taking sacks and missing throws.
The Week 6 game against the Baltimore Ravens was a perfect snapshot. At halftime, Watson was only 3-of-9 for 24 yards, and Monken told the sideline reporter that the veteran quarterback needs to work through his progressions instead of taking a quick look at the first two reads before pulling the ball down to run.
Watson settled down after the break, finishing 13-of-17 for 140 yards as the Browns escaped with another close win. But that second-half fix hasn’t erased the larger issue: if he can’t string together complete games, how long can winning keep protecting him?
That question gets even more interesting because of Shedeur Sanders. Monken has already said Cleveland has two starting quarterbacks after Sanders pushed Watson hard in training camp.
The debate now is whether the head coach thinks the offense’s ceiling is higher with Sanders under center. Sanders’ aggressive mindset as a passer is part of why some would make that argument.
Monken, though, is the only one who knows what he really thinks.
Even if he believes a change could help, making it while the Browns are winning would take real nerve. Monken has shown he’ll stick to his process despite pushback, but benching a quarterback with a winning record is a different level of gamble.
The league does not make this move often, and when it has, the results have not always been pretty. The most infamous example came in 1999 with the Buffalo Bills, when Doug Flutie started 15 games and helped Buffalo to a 10-5 record.
With a playoff berth already locked up, head coach Wade Phillips sat Flutie in the regular-season finale and started Rob Johnson, who led a 31-6 win. Then came the bigger decision: Buffalo stuck with Johnson in the playoffs.
The Bills lost 22-16 to the Tennessee Titans in the wild-card round, and Johnson went 10-of-22 for 131 yards while taking six sacks.
Cleveland has lived through this before, too. In 2014, Brian Hoyer opened as the Browns’ starter and got the team out to a 6-3 start.
But after Cleveland dropped three of four, the Browns turned to rookie Johnny Manziel even though Hoyer was 7-6. Manziel started the next two games, losing one and exiting the other with a hamstring injury.
Cleveland then lost its final three games and finished 7-9 after being 7-4.
So if Monken really is weighing Watson against Sanders while the Browns are still on top of the division, it would be a major call either way. Stick with Watson and hope the offense keeps scraping by.
Make the switch and hope a new look gives the unit a jolt. Either path carries risk.
For now, unless Monken is ready to pull off something even bolder, Watson is likely to stay put until the losses pile up enough to make the decision easier.
In Other News...
Browns Offense Is Creating A Harold Fannin Jr. Debate
Harold Fannin Jr. was one of the Browns most productive pass catchers in 2025, leading Cleveland in receptions, receiving yards and touchdowns and quickly establishing himself as a central part of the offense. Through the first six games of 2026, though, his role has looked a little different. The Browns have added more weapons around him, and the passing game has been more dispersed, which has naturally led to a slowdown in his yards per catch and target volume.
Deshaun Watson and Todd Monken have both framed that shift as a matter of matchups and game situations rather than a sign of concern, with the offense spreading the ball around as opponents try to take away different options. Fannin has kept the focus on helping the Browns win, even if the individual numbers are quieter than they were a year ago, and that makes his place in the offense a little more intriguing as the season moves along. [Read more 🡒]
Browns Still Have One Clear Trade Deadline Need Up Front
The Browns have tried to patch together the front with offseason additions like Tytus Howard, Zion Johnson and Elgton Jenkins, and the results have been better in spots, but the offensive line still looks like the clearest place where help is needed before the trade deadline. Pass protection and run blocking have both lagged in the numbers, and the issues in the ground game have been especially hard to ignore for a team that wants more balance on offense.
A proven interior lineman would give Cleveland something it has not consistently had this season, and the trade market could offer a few interesting names if the Browns decide to act. Quenton Nelson, Landon Dickerson and Ben Bredeson are among the possibilities being floated, and each would fit the profile of a move aimed at stabilizing the middle of the line rather than chasing a more cosmetic fix. [Read more 🡒]
Browns Face A Costly Rushing Dilemma At The Worst Time
The Browns have managed a 4-2 start despite a rushing attack that has not found its footing, and the timing is hardly ideal with injuries thinning the running back room. That has pushed the conversation beyond simple internal fixes and into the trade market, where a player like Colts back Jonathan Taylor immediately stands out as the kind of upgrade that could change the equation for Cleveland's offense.
The problem, of course, is cost. Any pursuit of a marquee runner would likely force the Browns to part with meaningful draft capital or other assets, and the roster's age profile already leans young enough to make a long view appealing. With the offensive line still working through its own challenges, Cleveland has to decide whether to chase help now or trust its current backs and draft picks to grow into the answer. [Read more 🡒]