Deshaun Watson Would Have To Have A Perfect Season To Stay In Cleveland After $230M Contract Disaster, Coach Todd Monken Says

Deshaun Watson has a real shot at winning the Cleveland Browns‘ starting quarterback job this summer — but according to ESPN’s Dan Graziano, that almost certainly won’t be enough to keep him in Cleveland beyond this season.

Speaking on ESPN’s Get Up, Graziano argued that first-year head coach Todd Monken, who has waited years for this opportunity, isn’t going to bench whichever quarterback gives the Browns the best chance to win now, even if that isn’t the right long-term call for the franchise. Asked what it would take for Watson to earn a new contract, Graziano set an almost impossible bar: essentially a perfect season and a Super Bowl run before Cleveland would even entertain the conversation. The Browns, he said, need to find out what they truly have in Shedeur Sanders.

Watson is entering the fifth and final year of the five-year, fully guaranteed $230 million deal he signed after arriving in a blockbuster trade in 2022 — an investment that has not come close to paying off. He has made just 19 starts since, going 9-10, and his tenure has been derailed by injuries: season-ending shoulder surgery in 2023, a ruptured Achilles in 2024, and another setback that wiped out his entire 2025 season.

Now healthy, the nine-year veteran split first-team reps with Sanders throughout the spring and is trying to recapture the form that once made him a three-time Pro Bowler.

Sanders, for his part, is coming off an uneven rookie year — 1,400 yards passing, seven touchdowns and ten interceptions across eight appearances, though he closed the season on a stronger note, going 3-4 as a starter for a team that finished 4-12 overall. He has continued building on that progress this offseason, and both quarterbacks have made a point of training together, saying the competition won’t be allowed to divide the locker room.

Monken has so far refused to name a frontrunner, saying both passers have earned the right to keep competing once the pads come on. The Browns’ rookies and quarterbacks reported to camp on July 23, with the rest of the roster arriving Tuesday and the first full-team practice set for Wednesday.

The subtext around the entire competition, though, is hard to miss: Cleveland appears to view 2026 as a bridge year, with Sanders — not Watson — positioned as the long-term answer at the position no matter who opens the season under center.