The Jacksonville Jaguars have a clear advantage in their Week 1 matchup with the Cleveland Browns at the quarterback position.
The Jags will send out Trevor Lawrence as usual, and he’s coming off an AFC South title-leading season. The Browns will counter with Deshaun Watson, who was chosen as the Cleveland QB1 ahead of Shedeur Sanders.
Interestingly, though, Sanders had a role to play this week for Cleveland, and it related to Lawrence.
It’s surely not what Shedeur would’ve wanted, but it’s the best he could do for right now.
Shedeur Sanders’ Surprise Role for Jaguars Game
The Browns needed to prepare their defense for Trevor Lawrence, and to do that, they needed one of their non-Watson quarterbacks to do that.
Turns out, they used both Sanders and athletic rookie Taylen Green to show some potential looks that Lawrence and the Jags could use on Sunday.
“It’s hard to simulate any elite player in the NFL,” Browns coach Todd Monken told reporters on Friday. “It’s hard to simulate the way he does it, because he’s one of one… A former coach I used to work for used to say, ‘Be yourself, that other person is taken.’ Trevor Lawrence, it’s hard to be him, but I thought both of them gave a great job giving looks as best they could for our defense.”
#Browns Todd Monken said Shedeur Sanders and Taylen Green did a great job of simulating #Jaguars Trevor Lawrence, “who’s 1 of 1” pic.twitter.com/asAQOfuUu1
— Mary Kay Cabot (@MaryKayCabot) September 11, 2026
Lawrence is a fascinating talent who ran more last season than he ever had before in the NFL, which complicates things further.
Sanders definitely isn’t as mobile as Lawrence, but he likely was relied upon by Cleveland to show some of the potential throwing looks Lawrence could have. Green probably was called upon to display some of the potential Lawrence running looks.
Is Shedeur Sanders Playing in Week 1 vs. Jaguars?
As things stand, the Jaguars won’t see the polarizing Sanders on the field unless the Cleveland starter Watson gets hurt.
The aforementioned rookie Green is actually interesting, because the Browns have teased that they could have a specialty package installed to use his supreme athleticism as a mobile QB, but they aren’t totally giving away whether that will actually happen.
Given that new Browns coach Todd Monken just staked himself to Watson, he’s unlikely to immediately bench him at halftime or something if he struggles. Sanders will probably start this season, but it’s unlikely he gets into the game in Jacksonville unless there’s an injury.
Either way, the Jaguars’ defense will know it has a great matchup on its hands and be licking its chops with the chance to make some big plays on that side of the ball in the season opener.
Jaguars Get Shedeur Sanders Twist as Browns Prepare for Trevor Lawrence