The Cleveland Browns came up short of a win on the road in New Orleans on Sunday, losing, 23-22, to the Saints in overtime after a failed 2-point try on a pass from Shedeur Sanders to Denzel Boston. Sanders was making his first start of the season because starting quarterback Deshaun Watson had dealt with a concussion during last week’s practices (he cleared protocol on Saturday) and was on the inactive list, and Sanders performed well: 19-for-31 passing for 297 yards and two touchdowns with a 114.6 quarterback rating. His accuracy was off early in the game and he took five sacks, but considering he had not started since the 2025 finale, it was a good showing.
Former NFL coach Rex Ryan, on ESPN’s “Get Up” morning show on Monday, was impressed: “I thought he was horrible at the beginning of the game, but I thought he was fantastic at the end of the game when it mattered the most. … We know one thing about Shedeur Sanders, he is tough as heel. But that ball right there, I was like ‘Oh, shoot.’ This kid is so much better right now than anything I saw last year.”
Browns Will Have Deshaun Watson vs. Shedeur Sanders Question Again
But the question for the Browns, much like it was so often in 2025, is what happens at quarterback now? Sanders was good. Deshaun Watson, who won the job over Sanders in training camp, was good before the concussion–though he had slowed in recent weeks. There is, obviously, more upside with Sanders, who is 24, but there is more veteran experience with Watson. Both of those arguments were litigated in the offseason, and coach Todd Monken ultimately went with experience.
According to Adam Schefter, veteran ESPN insider, Monken is expected to return to that in Week 10. ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler later confirmed that would be the case.
Said Schefter on Monday: “I think Deshaun is the quarterback when he is ready, I think that will be next week, they will go back to him. But I think Shedeur showed that if they need to go back there, they have no problem doing it.”
Monken has still not weighed in on that. He was asked about starting Watson or Sanders after the Saints game and said, “I’m not even—I mean, we’re, how long has it been? 30 minutes since the game ended? I’m not getting into quarterback. If we want to talk about Shedeur, we can talk about Shedeur.”
Browns to Make Deshaun Watson Move After Shedeur Sanders Start