Cleveland Browns head coach Todd Monken has yet to name a starting quarterback, with Deshaun Watson and Shedeur Sanders still battling for the QB1 role. As the competition between Watson and Sanders will continue through the summer, NFL insider Albert Breer sounded off on it.
Why Albert Breer Sounds Off on Deshaun Watson vs. Shedeur Sanders’ Battle for QB1
Player-organized offseason passing camps have become a staple around the NFL. They help quarterbacks sharpen their timing with wide receivers and tight ends outside the team’s structured environment while also boosting relationships and overall team chemistry.
Speaking on 92.3 The Fan on Tuesday, Breer pointed out that many franchise quarterbacks have embraced the practice. Drake Maye recently invited his pass catchers to his lake house, Patrick Mahomes has long hosted similar workouts in Texas, and Josh Allen has frequently gathered teammates in California during the offseason.
Those camps have almost become an unwritten expectation for a team’s starting quarterback, but Cleveland’s unsettled quarterback competition makes organizing one far more complicated.
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“I would say if you have two quarterbacks with competing camps and the receivers and the running backs and the tight ends have to pick which to go to, you have bigger problems than scheduling,” Breer said. “If that’s allowed to happen, and like you’ve got drama over that, that’s probably not great.
“So I think in a case like this, if one quarterback is going to put it together, then you would hope that he would let the other quarterbacks know what the plan was and invite them to be part of it. I think, generally, it would be the most veteran guy. The presumed starter would obviously be the preference, and when there isn’t one, I would think it would be the older guy. A lot of these guys do this sort of thing.”
However, the Browns’ front office does not seem concerned about the situation. With Watson and Sanders splitting first-team reps during spring practices, the competition is expected to continue into training camp.
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Browns insider Mary Kay Cabot reported Tuesday that she believes Watson plans to host a passing camp in South Florida in the near future, though it remains to be seen whether those plans materialize.
Watson is entering another crucial season under his fully guaranteed five-year, $230 million contract, giving Cleveland every reason to hope he can re-establish himself as the unquestioned starter. However, he has managed just one regular-season win since the beginning of the 2024 season.
Watson’s tenure in Cleveland has also been plagued by injuries, limiting him to just 19 appearances over four seasons. He recently shared videos of his intense offseason workouts on Instagram, but the biggest question remains whether he can stay healthy and return to the form he displayed earlier in his career.
Meanwhile, Sanders has kept the quarterback battle competitive throughout OTAs. Watson has yet to firmly seize control of the starting job, while Sanders finished last season as Cleveland’s starter, posting a 3-4 record and earning a 63.0 PFN QB Impact Grade.
Though Watson seems to have a slight edge in the race for QB1, Sanders remains firmly in contention and could ultimately become Cleveland’s starting quarterback.
