Rich Weighs In on the Latest Developments in the Cleveland Browns’ QB Competition

In the state of Ohio, the sentence everybody keeps saying about the Browns comes with an asterisk attached to the end of it. This team is ready to roll, if they have a quarterback.

The rest of it holds up on inspection. Harold Fannin is there. Quinshon Judkins is there. Jerry Jeudy is there, assuming he can find the version of himself from two years ago. KC Concepcion is in the mix. Defensively, yes, Myles Garrett is gone and everyone in Cleveland knows it, but as Rich pointed out, they did not get a slouch in return, and Mason Graham is sitting right there.

Which leaves the crucial question exactly where it has been all summer.

This past weekend, Shedeur Sanders was supposed to get reps with the ones and then did not, which set off the obvious speculation about whether Todd Monken is putting a thumb on the scale for Deshaun Watson.

Monken's answer about the rep split was, in fairness, an all-timer of a non-answer.

"Ultimately, Shedeur is going to go today with the ones. Unless on the way out, I change my mind, and then he won't," Monken said. "The bottom line is the speculation, which I find kind of funny, is as long as we're still sharing reps, it's a competition. I promise you, I'll tell you when I know what we're going to be doing. You'll know." He then laid out the schedule anyway: Sanders with the ones that day, Watson the next, Sanders again on Wednesday with the pads on.

Asked directly whether he had decided on a starter, Monken said he had not, that he anticipates the next couple of days, and that each quarterback is going to start a preseason game.

Rich's read is that this goes to the wire, though he allowed that with Monken you truly never know. "He's just a couple of steps away from the famous Kyle Shanahan, we may not be here on Sunday," Rich said. "He's just a couple steps away from, hey, a meteor could come and hit us."

The larger point is about who actually gets to decide. Monken is new there, and Cleveland wants to give him the reins. In a healthy organization, the coach makes the decisions.

But Rich does not think this one is being made in a vacuum, and he explained why in blunt terms. Nobody knows how Watson looks coming back from his Achilles, or whether the physical traits are remotely close to what they used to be. What is knowable is the bill. The amount of capital and time the Browns have flushed into the toilet for this guy, over this guy and concerning this guy, mandates that they see one last shot.

The exception is real, though. If Sanders is blowing the doors off the place, if the team sees that this kid is the guy and has outplayed and outcompeted Watson, Monken cannot look everybody in that locker room in the eye and start somebody else.

If it is apples to apples, Rich thinks Cleveland takes one final swing with Watson. And if that does not work, they are officially done, and Sanders takes it from there.