Cleveland Browns head coach Todd Monken named Deshaun Watson the starting quarterback after evaluating a quarterback competition that split first-team repetitions throughout the offseason and training camp between Watson and Shedeur Sanders. The Browns open their regular season on the road against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sept. 13, 2026.
Cleveland Browns head coach Todd Monken has named Deshaun Watson the starting quarterback for the upcoming regular season opener against the Jacksonville Jaguars on September 13, 2026, prompting immediate fan backlash, including anti-team messages posted on the Jim Brown statue.
Deshaun Watson Named Starting Quarterback for Season Opener
Monken explained the decision by pointing to the evaluation period across practices and games. Todd Monkenは、オフシーズンからトレーニングキャンプ、試合、そして合同練習に至るまでのすべての練習や試合の総体的なパフォーマンスを総合的に見極めた結果、アウェーでのシーズン開幕戦においては、陣地を進めて得点を挙げるためにデショーン・ワトソンを起用することが最善の選択肢であると感じたと述べた。また彼は、結局のところそれがすべてであり、前回の試合に臨む時点でもそう感じていたものの確信までは持てず、スタッフ間で話し合い、すべてを改めて検証した上でその方向性に進むことに決めたとも語った。
Over the course of the offseason program and throughout training camp, the Browns have split the reps with the first team between QB Shedeur Sanders and Watson as they evaluated their quarterbacks. Each quarterback had the chance to start a preseason game and play the first half of the game, as well as play in the third quarter of the game they did not start.
Watson started the first week of the preseason against the Bears and then played in the third quarter against the Bills. Watson played the entirety of the first half against the Bears, completing 11 of 15 passing attempts for 126 yards. He was also strip-sacked on fourth-and-1 during the second quarter, which set up a scoring drive for the Bears.
On their second offensive drive, Watson utilized a number of short passes to move the Browns downfield, ultimately ending the drive with a 50-yard field goal by K Andre Szmyt. Their third offensive drive included a 43-yard completion to RB Dylan Sampson, as Sampson caught a short pass and found space to run. Watson continued to lead the Browns down the field, which eventually set up the jet sweep for rookie WR KC Concepcion, who scored the Browns’ lone touchdown of the game.
Fan Protests and Vandalism of the Jim Brown Statue
Deshaun Watson is the Cleveland Browns’ starting quarterback again, and the team’s passionate fan base isn’t taking it well. Since Todd Monken’s announcement, anti-Browns messages (specifically, messages aimed at Watson and team owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam) have been seen throughout Cleveland. Messages were also posted on the statue of Browns legend Jim Brown. The treatment of Browns’ statue is evidence of just how disenchanted the team’s fan base has become.
One Browns fan decided to make a statement about their frustration by using the Jim Brown statue at the team’s stadium. The fan taped a sign to the statue that ripped both Browns owner Jimmy Haslam and the veteran signal-caller. クリーブランドの写真ジャーナリストであるダン・スタムネスによると、そのメッセージの一部には、クリーブランドはハスラム一族や彼らの「異常な」ワトソンとはもうおしまいだと書かれていた。
The frustration is certainly understandable, given everything they have endured since Brown and his teammates won the franchise’s last championship way back in 1964. Browns fans suffered through three heartbreaking playoff losses during the 1980s, the move to Baltimore in 1996 and the disastrous run of futility since the team’s return to the NFL 1999. In addition to their 62-year championship drought, the Browns haven’t won a division title since 1989 and have won just three playoff games over that span. Cleveland has won just one playoff game this century with only two playoff appearances.
Contract Pressures and the Quarterback Background
Now, Browns fans — at least temporarily — will be subjected to watch a quarterback who criticized their treatment of him following Saturday’s dismal performance in Cleveland’s preseason loss to Buffalo. Making this more painful for Browns fans is the fact that Watson is playing over Shedeur Sanders, an immensely popular player in Cleveland who possesses a much higher ceiling than the 31-year-old Watson.
Watson recently addressed fans booing him during the preseason Week 2 game and called them “disrespectful” for doing so. Watson has since walked back his comments, but it was obviously too little, too late.
They sucker punched the franchise by giving away draft capital and gladly gifting their team’s orange-and-brown laundry for Watson to wear — and even worse, a five-year deal of a guaranteed $230 million for him to possess. Around the league, the Browns’ decision to pay Watson was a blunder that broke the market for every franchise wanting to keep a semi-capable quarterback on the roster. Watson, who continues to deny any wrongdoing, has not earned a dollar of his ironclad contract and hasn’t at all looked like an NFL quarterback, especially during that Saturday make-believe matchup against the Buffalo Bills.
On the football side of things, Watson has an enormous contract but has played like one of the worst quarterbacks in the NFL since signing it. And that’s just when he is on the field. Watson has missed 49 of a possible 68 games with various injuries. There’s also the slew of sexual misconduct accusations against Watson that have led to nearly 30 civil lawsuits.
If there’s a positive in Cleveland, it’s the fact that there is light at the end of the tunnel in the form of Watson’s expiring contract, which all but guarantees that he will no longer be on the team at the end of the 2026 season.