Since trading for quarterback Deshaun Watson and giving him a fully guaranteed five-year, $230 million contract, the decision has backfired in the Cleveland Browns’ face, as he’s played just 19 games over four seasons and passed for just over 3,300 yards.
While he led the only two scoring drives in Cleveland’s opening preseason game, his outing was fairly mediocre. Yet, the signal-caller drew post-game praise from new head coach Todd Monken, which didn’t go unnoticed by one NFL pundit.
Skip Bayless Claims Cleveland Browns HC Todd Monken Has Already Picked a QB1
Following the Browns’ 34-10 loss to the Chicago Bears in their preseason opener, Monken was asked about Watson’s performance. He responded, “It was awesome. It was cool to watch him play. I get all of the frustration by fans, himself. But for him to come back and work like he did is an unbelievable credit to him. And then to go out there, he was having fun today. And that is so cool. And I thought he really functioned at a high level.”
He did clarify there were things to clean up, though, explaining, “Certainly, we don’t wanna be taking timeouts, we sure as heck can’t take delay of games. But it was fun watching him play, and watching us put the next step forward and see where we’re at.”
Watson was efficient, leading two scoring drives and completing 11 of 15 passes for 126 yards, and did not commit any costly errors that stalled drives.
Thankfully for him, Shedeur Sanders and Dillon Gabriel performed far worse, as both threw interceptions and failed to lead the offense on any scoring drives.
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Skip Bayless, not impressed by the Browns or Watson’s performance, couldn’t help but take a dig at Monken, saying, “New coach Todd Monken laughably but not surprisingly raved about Deshaun’s shaky 1st half today. It’s obvious Monken has already decided to start Deshaun in part bc the owner wants to justify the final year of his all-time bad contract. Monken doesn’t seem to be a Shedeur fan.”
New coach Todd Monken laughably but not surprisingly raved about Deshaun’s shaky 1st half today. It’s obvious Monken has already decided to start Deshaun in part bc the owner wants to justify the final yr of his all-time bad contract. Monken doesn’t seem to be a Shedeur fan.
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) August 16, 2026
Both Gabriel and Dillon struggled in their rookie seasons, but the Browns’ offense lacked the weapons to help them succeed in 2025.
Sanders played in eight games last season, completing 120 of 212 passes for 1,400 yards, seven touchdowns, and ten interceptions. Gabriel played in 10 games, completing 110 of 185 passes for 937 yards, seven touchdowns, and two interceptions.
According to PFSN’s QB impact metric, Gabriel ranked 36th in 2025 out of 38 quarterbacks with a score of 64.o, while Sanders came in just behind him at 37th with a score of 63.0.
Watson wouldn’t have to do much, but in his last season of action, he finished last in the league among 40 quarterbacks in 2024, with a score of 59.9. Safe to say expectations for Monken and the Browns should not be too high this season.
