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When the NFL season begins, Deshaun Watson won’t have taken a snap in nearly two years.
Since rupturing his Achilles, the Cleveland Browns have drafted three quarterbacks, including Shedeur Sanders, who took the reins to close out the 2025 season after Dillon Gabriel, who started after Joe Flacco was traded, suffered a concussion.
However, Cleveland.com reported Wednesday that Watson still has “the inside track” to be named the Browns’ Week 1 starter, citing sources.
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Deshaun Watson of the Cleveland Browns looks to pass during a voluntary veterans minicamp at the CrossCountry Mortgage Campus in Berea, Ohio, on April 21, 2026. (Nick Cammett/Getty Images)
On the first day of the team’s minicamp, Sanders was set to get more reps with the first team, but Watson ended up getting more. On day two, Watson was the first quarterback to earn first-team reps and again had the most of anyone.
Gabriel, the outlet said, got none and Watson “had earned the QB1 snaps by looking like a starting quarterback.”
Despite taking Gabriel in the third round last year and Sanders in the fifth, Cleveland added another quarterback to its crowded room last week in Arkansas’ Taylen Green.
Quarterbacks Shedeur Sanders and Deshaun Watson of the Cleveland Browns watch from the sidelines during a game against the Cincinnati Bengals at Huntington Bank Field in Cleveland, Ohio on September 7, 2025. (Jason Miller/Getty Images)
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It’s a young Browns roster, as it looks like their three primary playmakers are either in their first or second seasons (running back Quinshon Judkins enters year two, while the Browns drafted wide receivers at 24 and 39). The Browns also went offensive with the ninth pick. So, as Cleveland.com mentioned, the veteran in Watson may be better equipped for that kind of environment.
However, he is entering the final year of his $230 million contract, which the front office has admitted was a “swing and a miss.”
The quarterback play for Cleveland was poor throughout the season regardless of who was taking the snaps, ranking 31st in completion percentage (57.89%) and passing yards per game (165.1). Sanders’ three wins as a starter were more than Gabriel and Flacco combined, but his 56.6 completion percentage was the lowest, as was his 4.7 interception percentage, keeping the quarterback competition open.
Shedeur Sanders looks on as Deshaun Watson runs a drill during a voluntary veterans minicamp at the CrossCountry Mortgage Campus in Berea, Ohio, on April 21, 2026. (Nick Cammett/Getty Images)
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Since being acquired ahead of the 2021 season, Watson has played in 19 of a possible 85 games, thrown for 3,365 yards, 19 touchdowns and 12 interceptions while facing injuries and a suspension due to sexual assault allegations.
