The Cleveland Browns announced Wednesday that Deshaun Watson will start Saturday’s preseason opener against the Chicago Bears.
The Cleveland Browns announced Wednesday that Deshaun Watson will start Saturday’s preseason opener against the Chicago Bears. Shedeur Sanders will then get his turn with the starters when the Browns face the Buffalo Bills in their second preseason game.
For Watson, Saturday represents another step in his comeback.
“I’m super excited,” Watson said. “All the hard work that I put in with the training staff, with my team, my personal team, to get to this stage has been tremendous for me. So, I’m super excited for those opportunities and can’t wait for it.”
The decision comes amid increasing outside pressure for Cleveland to turn the offense over to Sanders. NFL analysts Chris Simms and Mike Tannenbaum have both recently questioned the idea of starting Watson over the younger quarterback.
For now, however, the Browns aren’t ready to declare a winner. Head coach Todd Monken made it clear that the competition remains wide open.
“I have my reasons for how it’s going to go, and it’s still a competition,” Monken said. “We’re excited to watch guys practice today, let alone on Saturday, and then next week against Buffalo, and we’ll get a chance to see them both. Every week we’ll assess it. It’ll be a little bit more difficult with the player that doesn’t play as much this week or the other quarterbacks, right? We’ll be able to assess the quarterback that started and how he played and when the other quarterbacks came in and then the opposite will be next week against Buffalo.”
Monken explained that splitting the starts between Watson and Sanders will allow Cleveland to evaluate each quarterback in different situations before reassessing the competition every week.
Letting Watson and Sanders settle it on the field is the best way to go about it.
The Cleveland Browns announced Wednesday that Deshaun Watson will start Saturday’s preseason opener against the Chicago Bears. Shedeur Sanders will then get his turn with the starters when the Browns face the Buffalo Bills in their second preseason game. For Watson, Saturday represents another step in his comeback.
