Having watched the Cleveland Browns‘ quarterback competition between second-year man Shedeur Sanders and veteran Deshaun Watson over the last four months, it might be reasonable to assume that the team was always leaning toward making Watson the starter, and that the notion of a competition between the two was always a bit of a sham. Sanders certainly got opportunities, but reports stretching back to February pinned Watson as the starter, and the team’s announcement this week was hardly a surprise, even with the animosity that bubbled up between Watson and Cleveland fans in and after the preseason game on Saturday.
But maybe there is some fool’s gold in the winning of the job for Watson. After all, he is coming into an offense that was the worst in the NFL in the last two seasons, and while there was a concerted effort to up the talent level there this offseason, it’s still a group with five new starters on the offensive line and two new top wide receivers.
The Browns’ offense will need time to come together, and that won’t be good for Watson.
Shedeur Sanders Will Get Browns Job When Deshaun Watson ‘Fails’
That is the view from 17-years NFL veteran quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, who is now an analyst for the Amazon Prime broadcasts. Fitzpatrick was on hand for the preseason finale against the Patriots on Thursday, and though neither Sanders nor Watson played, both were topics of conversation.
Fitzpatrick sees Watson starting the season as QB1 but not lasting. And he did not pull punches on his opinion there.
He said: “I think this is set up for Shedeur. If Deshaun, once he fails, Shedeur’s gonna jump into this thing, and he’s going to be the guy. And this city is gonna be behind him.”
‘Shedeur Sanders Is Playing This Year’
Asked if he really thought hat Watson would “fail” with the Browns this year, Fitzpatrick said, “Yeah, it’s gonna happen. I mean, Shedeur’s playing this year. I think all three of these guys – I think [Dillon] Gabriel’s gonna have a chance to play as well. This is such a young roster with a lot of changing parts and a lot of new guys. They’re going to struggle on offense for sure.”
That’s a safe assumption, though if there can at least be decent quarterback play, then we could see the new-look offensive line and the rebuilt receiver room shine. The Browns have at least enough talent to break their run of fielding the NFL’s worst offense. If Sanders relieves Watson, plays like a near-average quarterback, and the rest of the new pieces come together, there would be no need to play Gabriel.
Browns Concerned About Deshaun Watson’s Deep Balls
Fitzpatrick had talked about this aspect of the Browns’ decision before, on his podcast with fellow Prime analyst Andrew Whitworth. He suggested it would be easier to start Watson and pull him for Sanders than vice-versa. He was concerned, too, that Watson is not throwing deep these days, as well as Sanders’ continued struggles with timing.
Said Fitzpatrick: “I first went back and I watched Deshaun, and then I watched Shedeur. The hard part is you put on the film, and there’s things that Deshaun has really regressed at and has not done well, one of them is the deep ball. It was painful to watch, but the thing that he does is he knows how to do an operation in the NFL.
“When you watch Shedeur, he makes more plays downfield, but rarely is he playing on time. Deshaun Watson’s delivering it on time and he’s putting it at the right spot more often than not.”
Browns Situation ‘Set Up For’ Shedeur Sanders: Ex-NFL QB