Browns Turn Back to Deshaun Watson: Why Cleveland Made the Call — and Why Fans Are Furious

CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Browns have made their choice at quarterback, and it may be one of the least popular decisions the franchise could have made.

Cleveland will open the 2026 NFL season with Deshaun Watson as its starting quarterback, choosing the veteran over second-year quarterback Shedeur Sanders following a training-camp competition that did little to settle the debate among Browns fans. (Yahoo Sports)

For new head coach Todd Monken, the decision can be defended as a football move based on experience, practice evaluation and the belief that Watson gives Cleveland its best chance to win immediately.

For a sizable portion of the fan base, however, Watson represents something much larger: a trade and contract that have haunted the franchise for more than four years.

That divide explains why Cleveland’s quarterback announcement has produced such an emotional reaction.

The Decision Fans Didn’t Want

The frustration surrounding Watson was impossible to miss Saturday during Cleveland’s preseason game against Buffalo.

Watson was booed by the home crowd at Huntington Bank Field as he struggled against the Bills, completing 5 of 12 passes and throwing an interception. The reaction followed him throughout an afternoon in which Cleveland’s offense struggled badly. (NFL)

Watson later expressed frustration with the reception, referencing the reaction from some fans when he suffered his Achilles injury in 2024.

That only intensified the already strained relationship between quarterback and fan base.

Monken said Watson’s comments would not factor into his quarterback decision. Instead, the coach said he would evaluate the “full body of work” from training camp and the preseason and choose the quarterback who gave Cleveland the best chance to win Week 1. (Reuters)

That quarterback is Watson.

Why Browns Fans Are So Angry

The anger isn’t simply about one bad preseason performance.

It dates to March 2022.

Cleveland made one of the most aggressive trades in NFL history when it acquired Watson from the Houston Texans, surrendering a package built around three consecutive first-round draft picks and then signing Watson to a five-year, fully guaranteed $230 million contract. (Over the Cap)

The deal was controversial from the beginning because Watson faced numerous allegations of sexual misconduct from women who had provided massage services. Watson denied wrongdoing, and two Texas grand juries declined to indict him. The NFL ultimately suspended Watson for the first 11 games of the 2022 season and fined him $5 million under the league’s personal-conduct policy.

Cleveland accepted enormous financial and reputational risk because the organization believed it was acquiring an elite quarterback capable of turning a talented roster into a Super Bowl contender.

That transformation never happened.

Watson struggled when available and repeatedly battled injuries. He went 3-3 after returning from suspension in 2022, suffered a season-ending shoulder injury in 2023 and then ruptured his Achilles during the 2024 season. A second rupture and surgery in January 2025 effectively wiped out his 2025 campaign. (ESPN.com)

Instead of becoming the missing piece, Watson became the symbol of Cleveland’s failed attempt to manufacture a championship window.

That history makes the 2026 decision difficult for many fans to accept.

The Sanders Factor

There is another reason the reaction has been so intense: Shedeur Sanders represents something Watson no longer does — the possibility of something new.

Sanders, a fifth-round selection in the 2025 NFL Draft, played eight games during his rookie season and entered this summer with an opportunity to claim the job.

His preseason wasn’t flawless. Sanders threw two interceptions, while Watson also failed to separate himself decisively from the competition. Reuters reported Watson completed 59.3% of his preseason passes for 162 yards with no touchdowns and one interception, while Sanders completed 68.2% for 153 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. (Reuters)

Those numbers hardly suggest one quarterback overwhelmed the other.

And that may be part of Cleveland’s problem.

For fans ready to move beyond the Watson era, Sanders didn’t necessarily have to look like a finished product. He merely had to represent a path forward.

Starting Watson instead can feel like returning to a chapter many Browns supporters desperately want closed.

So Why Would Cleveland Do It?

Strip away the emotion surrounding Watson, and several football and organizational reasons help explain the Browns’ decision.

The first is experience.

Watson has started NFL playoff games and, before his Cleveland tenure, played at an elite level with Houston. Sanders remains a developing quarterback with limited NFL experience.

If Monken genuinely believes Watson performed better throughout the entirety of the offseason program, training camp, meetings and practices, choosing him is consistent with the coach’s stated goal: play the quarterback most likely to win Week 1.

There is also a practical benefit to starting the veteran first.

If Watson struggles, Cleveland can turn to Sanders later.

Doing the opposite is considerably more complicated. Starting Sanders and then benching him for Watson could damage the young quarterback’s confidence and development while creating another quarterback controversy.

Beginning with Watson gives Cleveland an obvious escape hatch.

If he plays well, the Browns benefit.

If he struggles, the organization can make the transition to Sanders with considerably less controversy.

The $230 Million Elephant in the Room

Then there is the unavoidable financial component.

Watson’s contract has been restructured multiple times, pushing significant salary-cap consequences into future seasons.

According to Spotrac, Watson carries a cap hit of roughly $41 million in 2026. Other cap analyses show Cleveland remains responsible for enormous future charges connected to the contract regardless of whether Watson is on the roster. (Spotrac)

That does not necessarily mean the Browns named Watson the starter simply because they are paying him.

But the financial reality cannot be separated completely from the football decision.

Cleveland invested three first-round selections, additional draft capital and $230 million guaranteed in Watson. Before permanently closing the book, the organization has every incentive to determine whether there is anything left to salvage.

In some ways, 2026 represents the final experiment.

Cleveland May Also Be Protecting Sanders

There is another possibility that may receive less attention.

Starting Watson could actually be part of a longer-term plan involving Sanders.

The Browns aren’t widely viewed as a championship contender entering 2026. Throwing Sanders immediately into the starting lineup behind a team still trying to establish its direction might not be the best developmental strategy.

Monken can instead allow Sanders to continue learning the offense while Watson absorbs the early-season pressure.

And there will be pressure.

Every incomplete pass will produce questions.

Every interception will bring calls for Sanders.

Every home loss could make the boos louder.

If Watson fails, Monken won’t need to manufacture a reason to make a change. The fan base may demand it for him.

Watson’s Performance Hasn’t Justified the Investment

Perhaps the greatest source of frustration is that Cleveland fans have never seen anything resembling the quarterback the Browns believed they acquired in 2022.

Watson was a three-time Pro Bowl selection in Houston and led the NFL with 4,823 passing yards in 2020.

That player has never consistently appeared in Cleveland.

Injuries explain part of it. The long layoff before his Browns debut certainly mattered. Changes in offensive systems and personnel haven’t helped.

But eventually quarterbacks are judged by production.

Cleveland paid an unprecedented price for Watson because the Browns believed they were eliminating their decades-long quarterback problem.

Instead, the Watson deal became another chapter in it.

A Decision That Could Define Monken’s First Season

That leaves Todd Monken in an unenviable position.

He inherited Watson. He inherited the contract. He inherited Sanders. And he inherited a fan base exhausted by years of instability at the most important position in football.

Now he owns the decision.

If Watson rediscovers even part of the quarterback he once was, Monken can argue that he ignored public pressure and made the correct football choice.

If Watson struggles while Sanders sits on the sideline, the criticism will come quickly.

Already, fan reaction to the announcement has been overwhelmingly contentious enough that Browns-focused outlets are polling supporters on whether the decision has damaged their opinion of Monken before he has even coached a regular-season game. (Dawgs By Nature)

That is hardly an ideal honeymoon for a new head coach.

The Browns Are Betting on One Last Chance

Ultimately, Cleveland’s decision appears less like another long-term commitment to Watson and more like one final attempt to determine whether anything remains from the massive investment the organization made four years ago.

The Browns know what Watson costs.

They know what they traded.

They know how the fans feel.

And they know Sanders is waiting.

That makes Watson’s margin for error remarkably small.

Cleveland isn’t asking its fans to forget the past. At this point, that would be impossible.

The Browns are essentially asking them to tolerate one more attempt to see whether Watson can still help them win football games.

For a fan base that has already spent four years waiting for the Watson gamble to pay off, patience may be the one thing Cleveland can no longer expect.

Watson may have won the starting job. Winning back Cleveland will be considerably harder.

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