INDIANAPOLIS \u2014 New Cleveland Browns coach Todd Monken raved about the “elite” skills he\u2019s seen from Shedeur Sanders. Only he hasn\u2019t seen enough to hand him the starting quarterback job. In fact, Monken declared it an “open competition” for that job, presumably between Sanders, Dillon Gabriel and Deshaun Watson \u2014 and possibly even others. It\u2019s the kind of messy, almost untenable situation the Browns have dealt with at quarterback since trading away Baker Mayfield three years ago. And it\u2019s a mess that will likely linger over the franchise all summer long, and maybe longer. “I don\u2019t know why it wouldn\u2019t be an open competition,” Monken said Wednesday at the NFL Scouting Combine. “And I don\u2019t mean that harshly, but I don\u2019t think there\u2019s enough on film over the last couple of years one way or the other to say, \u2018Boy, we have a starter at quarterback\u2019 yet.” That\u2019s probably true. Despite the unabating hype of his many supporters, the 24-year-old Sanders had an unremarkable rookie season. The fifth-round pick did close out the year as the starter and produced some highlight-reel plays. But like most rookies, he was bogged down by inconsistency. He completed just 56.6% of his passes while throwing for seven touchdowns and 10 interceptions. Gabriel, the Browns\u2019 25-year-old third-round pick, wasn\u2019t much better, but he was a bit steadier in his six starts (and 10 appearances). He completed 59.9% of his passes for seven touchdowns and just two interceptions. The Browns, however, went 1-5 when Dillon started and 3-4 with Sanders. And Sanders was clearly the more electric of the two. Even Monken intimated he has a high ceiling. “I think what you see is elite playmaking ability,” Monken said. “That\u2019s in him. You\u2019ve seen it. We\u2019ve seen it. You saw it in college. You saw it on tape last year. Sure, there\u2019s a ways to go. What first-year player doesn\u2019t have a long way to go? So I\u2019m excited to get started with him.” But Sanders isn\u2019t the only quarterback that seemed to excite Monken. Making the situation even more complicated in Cleveland is the possible return of the now-30-year-old Watson, who is finally entering the final year of the fully guaranteed, $230 million contract that has weighed down the franchise since they traded for him in 2022. He hasn\u2019t appeared in a game since October 2024, when he suffered the first of two tears to his right Achilles tendon, so he\u2019s probably a long shot to beat out Sanders or Gabriel. But if he\u2019s healthy, Monken said it would be “completely unfair” to rule him out. “I think any time that you have a player that, at one time, has exhibited the skill set at an elite level, I think you\u2019re always going to give them the benefit of the doubt that somehow we might be able to get that out of him again,” Monken said. “And I think that\u2019s how you should look at every player. I\u2019m going to let it play out. “Now you\u2019re going to have some preconceived notions, obviously, because we have prior evidence. But I don\u2019t decide who plays. The players decide who plays.” And it\u2019s possible that Sanders, Gabriel and Watson won\u2019t be the only quarterbacks in that process either. Both Monken and general manager Andrew Berry hinted over the past two days that the Browns could even add another quarterback to the mix, either via free agency or the draft. The Browns presumably will pass on taking a QB with the No. 6 overall pick in the 2026 draft, but they have another first-round selection (No. 24) and a high second-rounder (No. 39). Adding a quarterback that high seems crazy on one hand. At the same time, it sounds like a very Browns thing to do. Just last year, they selected Gabriel and Sanders with consecutive selections. For now, though, there are only three QBs in the competition, and Monken doesn\u2019t seem to be in a hurry to name a starter. While he\u2019d ideally prefer to know his No. 1 by the start of training camp, he seemed willing to let the indecision that has haunted the franchise for several years go on longer than that. “You would hope that\u2019s the case, that by the time you get to training camp the reps that you\u2019re giving to a quarterback is for your starter,” he said. “Whether we get to that place, I don\u2019t know. That\u2019ll be determined in the offseason as part of it. It\u2019s just another part of the piece.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
INDIANAPOLIS \u2014 New Cleveland Browns coach Todd Monken raved about the “elite” skills he\u2019s seen from Shedeur Sanders. Only he hasn\u2019t seen enough to hand him the starting quarterback job. In fact, Monken declared it an “open competition” for that job, presumably between Sanders, Dillon Gabriel and Deshaun Watson \u2014 and possibly even others. It\u2019s<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32265"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32265"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32265\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlinebettingnewyork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}