As the Browns’ quarterback room turns.
Speaking Tuesday from the annual NFL meetings in Phoenix, new Browns head coach Todd Monken provided an intriguing update on Cleveland’s second-year quarterbacks, noting Shedeur Sanders “has been in the building a bunch the last few months, working out” and Dillon Gabriel, “as far as he’s aware, has not,” according to ESPN’s Peter Schrager.
This would seemingly give Sanders an early advantage in the battle with Desaun Watson a wild-card in the QB competition.
Gabriel, 25, and Sanders, 24, were both taken by the Browns in last year’s NFL draft in the third and fifth rounds, respectively.
Both signal-callers received starting opportunities in the place of Watson, who missed all of 2025 after re-aggravating an Achilles injury, and Joe Flacco, who was dealt to the rival Bengals in October.
Gabriel went 1-5 as a starter and tossed seven touchdowns against two interceptions in 10 games.
The Browns named Sanders the starting quarterback for Week 12 with Gabriel in the NFL’s concussion protocol. He went 3-4 and finished the year in the driver’s seat, tossing seven touchdowns and 10 interceptions.
The Browns finished the year at 5-12 and fired coach Kevin Stefanski.
With Monken now at the helm, the former Ravens offensive coordinator is mapping out what the quarterback competition will look like as offseason workouts near, noting reps won’t be split evenly.
“I wouldn’t say they’re going to be evenly dispersed, but we’ll definitely disperse them to give ourselves a chance to at least evaluate who we have on the roster, whoever that might be as we go through the offseason,” he said, according to ESPN.
Watson, the Browns’ $230 million disappointment, has a “great chance” to rewrite his run in Cleveland, according to team owner Jimmy Haslam.
A former first-round pick with the Texans, Watson has only appeared in 19 games for Cleveland since the team orchestrated a seismic trade in 2022 that included a fully guaranteed deal for the QB.
Watson was suspended for the first 11 games of his Browns tenure after being accused of sexual misconduct, and injuries and poor play have further derailed his tenure.
“Deshaun has a great chance, fresh start, offensive-minded coach, who has in his past been able to work with all kinds of different quarterbacks and make them successful,” said Haslam, a year removed from calling the Watson acquisition a “big swing-and-miss.”
“So, Deshaun has a great chance to do that now. We talked to him the other day, he said he weighs the [least] he has in several years. He’s in great shape, he’ll be [in Cleveland] on April 7 when we start [the offseason workout program]. Let’s see what Deshaun can do. We’re all excited.”