With the Cleveland Browns starting Deshaun Watson over Shedeur Sanders at quarterback for the start of the season, there is no denying that the decision has stirred a lot of opinions in the sports world. As the Browns will roll out Watson over Sanders, one person who has a strong opinion on the matter is former star and analyst J.J. Watt.
Also a former teammate of Watson with the Houston Texans, Watt would be asked on “The Pat McAfee Show” if he is surprised by the team’s decision to start the 30-year-old over Sanders, who is entering his second year in the league. Watt expressed that he isn’t, saying that if a competition is close, any team is likely to lean more towards the player with the monumental contract that Watson currently has.
“I would say I’m not surprised,” Watt said. “It kind of seems like this is the way they had been going all offseason and training camp, and I would say in terms of if things are close at all in in a competition, we all know, if things are close, when you’re paying somebody 230 million dollars fully guaranteed, that’s the person that you’re going to want to give every single opportunity to, to hopefully somehow some way make you right on that contract that many people question and say is is one of the worst in history. It doesn’t surprise me that they’ve gone that way.”
“I’m not surprised that Deshaun Watson was named the starter for the Cleveland Browns..
They haven’t been able to find their quarterback for a very long time..
They have a really good fanbase and I would love to see them be successful” ~ @JJWatt #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/nW0MsZAfBI
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) August 28, 2026
J.J. Watt on when the Browns would start Shedeur Sanders
There is another question that Watt ponders, which is when the Browns could potentially go away from Watson and start Sanders, as he’s unsure.
“The question everybody asks: Is how long is this going to last, and how good will he be? And who knows? I don’t know the answer to that, but I’m certainly going to be watching. And it’s tough. They haven’t been able to find their quarterback there for a very, very long time,” Watt said.
It remains to be seen how Cleveland’s quarterback situation develops over the season with Week 1 on Sept. 13 against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
With the Cleveland Browns starting Deshaun Watson over Shedeur Sanders at quarterback for the start of the season, there is no denying that the decision has stirred a lot of opinions in the sports world. As the Browns will roll out Watson over Sanders, one person who has a strong opinion on the matter is former star and analyst J.
