Rich: What to Make of the Cleveland Browns’ QB Competition after NFL Preseason Week 1

The Cleveland Browns kicked off the NFL Network triple header on Saturday against a Chicago Bears team that had no interest in showing anything. Caleb Williams did not play. Tyson Bagent got the start. Chicago has a roster it is ready to go to battle with, so the preseason is a formality there.

Cleveland does not have that luxury, because everyone is watching the quarterback competition.

Todd Monken is going the other direction from Minnesota, taking this deep into the preseason before deciding anything. The only call he has made so far is the order. Deshaun Watson first against the Bears, Shedeur Sanders to follow. Next week it flips.

Watson looked pretty darn good. Not perfect, and he did fumble on a second-quarter drive, but both scoring drives belonged to him. The touchdown and the field goal that made up Cleveland's 10 points came with Watson running the offense, and KC Concepcion ran one in, which gives you a sense of how Monken can use the newest rookie weapons.

The line: 11 for 15, 126 yards, two scoring drives.

"It was awesome," Monken said. "It was so cool to watch him play. I get all of the frustration by fans, himself, but for him to come back and work like he did is an unbelievable credit to him. And then to go out there, he was having fun today. And that is so cool. And I thought he really functioned at a high level. Certainly we don't want to be taking timeouts. We sure as heck can't take delay of games. But it was fun watching him play."

Watson was asked to confirm the fun part.

"That's always been my mentality, so I don't think that's anything that I doubted in myself," he said. "That's the reason why I work hard these last two years, to get back to that. Had some challenges with some injuries and suspension, and now being able to get a full offseason and continue to work my way back up. It takes time, but at the same time I don't doubt myself in any way that I can't play at a high level."

Here is the part nobody in Cleveland wants to hear. Rich believes there has always been a thumb on the scale for Watson, made of money and capital and the years spent waiting on him to be healthy and clear of his past. Watson turns 31 on September 14, and he arrives there without much football played between ages 27 and 31.

Sanders has a narrower path. He cannot air mail passes and he cannot drop footballs. He did make some good throws, as is his want, and he showed up at his press conference smiling, because that is who he is. But he has to practice perfectly and his next start had better go gangbusters.

Monken laid out what comes next. "When we practice against Buffalo, we will give both of the quarterbacks opportunities with the ones against the Bills. Shedeur will start against the Bills. Deshaun will play in the third quarter and Dillon will play in the fourth."

Which means the first half is Sanders' massive audition, and Watson gets the third quarter against Buffalo backups, where he is going to look good. Let's be honest about that.

The bigger point is that this roster is close. Myles Garrett is gone, but Jared Verse is there and wants to prove he can lead. All Cleveland needs is quality quarterback play to be a real sleeper in 2026. The question is whether that play ends up average or above average, and with openers at Jacksonville and then at Tampa, where Baker Mayfield will be gunning, the pull toward a veteran steady hand is obvious.

Rich capes for Sanders as best he can. He still watched Saturday and thought, that is kind of it.