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By the time the NFL season begins, Deshaun Watson won’t have taken over in almost two years.
Since rupturing their Achilles tendon, the Cleveland Browns have added three quarterbacks, including Shedeur Sanders, who took over the reins to close out the 2025 season after Dillon Gabriel, who started after the Joe Flacco trade, suffered a concussion.
However, Cleveland.com reported Wednesday that Watson still has the “inside track” to being named the Browns’ Week 1 starter, citing sources.
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Deshaun Watson of the Cleveland Browns looks for success during a voluntary veterans minicamp at the CrossCountry Mortgage Campus in Berea, Ohio on April 21, 2026. (Nick Cammett/Getty Images)
On the first day of the team’s minicamp, Sanders was set to get more reps with the first team, but Watson ended up getting more. On day two, Watson was the first quarterback to get first-team reps and once again had the most crowds.
Gabriel, the outlet said, got none, and Watson “had been earning QB1 snaps by looking like a starting quarterback.”
Despite drafting Gabriel in the third round last year and Sanders in the fifth, Cleveland added one more quarterback to its crowded draft roster last week in Arkansas’ Taylen Green.
Cleveland Browns quarterbacks Shedeur Sanders and Deshaun Watson watch from the sidelines during a game against the Cincinnati Bengals at Huntington Bank Field in Cleveland, Ohio on September 7, 2025. (Jason Miller/Getty Images)
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This is a young Browns team, as it appears their three main playmakers are in their first or second seasons (running back Quinshon Judkins is entering year two, while the Browns have drafted wide receivers at 24 and 39). The Browns also moved on the offensive line with the ninth pick. So, as Cleveland.com mentioned, the veteran Watson might be better equipped for this type of environment.
However, he is entering the final year of his $230 million contract that the front office acknowledged was “a failure and a failure.”
Quarterback play for Cleveland was poor throughout the season regardless of who was taking snaps, ranking 31st in completion percentage (57.89%) and passing yards per game (165.1). Sanders’ three wins as a starter were more than Gabriel and Flacco’s combined, but his completion percentage of 56.6 was the lowest, as was his interception percentage of 4.7, keeping the quarterback competition open.
Shedeur Sanders watches Deshaun Watson perform a drill during a volunteer veterans minicamp at the CrossCountry Mortgage Campus in Berea, Ohio, April 21, 2026. (Nick Cammett/Getty Images)
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Since Watson was acquired before the 2021 season, he has played in 19 of a possible 85 games, totaling 3,365 yards, 19 touchdowns and 12 interceptions, while dealing with injuries and a suspension due to sexual assault allegations.
