The Cleveland Browns have still not named a Week 1 starting quarterback. New head coach Todd Monken continues to insist both Deshaun Watson and Shedeur Sanders will get a shot to start their own preseason game before he comes to a decision.
Reports out of camp Monday may show why Monken is taking so long.
Beat reporter Ashley Bastock shared the ugly details from the end of Monday’s practice.
The offense was in an end-of-half situation and both Sanders and Watson got a shot to show off their clutch abilities. The former kept seeing his linemen jump and the latter had a solid start, followed by a sack and several penalties.
Mary Kay Cabot confirmed the scene shared by her colleague out of Berea.
Browns fans were ready to run Kevin Stefanski out of town for all the penalties in recent seasons, especially those by his offense. The Browns offense, under both Sanders and Watson, is now having trouble avoiding penalties in practice. That is the definition of a “total mess.”
It is important to point out the offense will struggle in general because the defense is so talented. But it’s inexcusable to have multiple pre-snap penalties in this type of drill in August. Such a thing happening in high school summer practice would lead to players running laps for it.
Monken was reportedly so mad he was throwing things, per Bastock. That is not quite where he wanted his offense to be to start the week of the first preseason game. Fans, meanwhile, may not be so surprised.
Monken has already gone away from his stated plans over the weekend, when Sanders saw reduced reps with the first-team offense. That seemingly meant Watson was the favorite, only for the veteran to struggle to even get snaps off on Monday.
This is a nightmare situation and one that will hopefully resolve itself when the preseason games actually begin. Even then, Week 1 will tell the true tale.
The fact a competition is taking place this late in training camp does indicate the team is still set on looking for a quarterback in the 2027 Draft. That is, the front office is viewing the plan that way. Monken and his coaches are doing their best to will the players to success, even if it may ultimately be a futile effort.
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