Shedeur Sanders finished last year as the Browns’ starting quarterback.
Could he retain this role for the start of the 2026 season?
“Of course he can,” Cleveland head coach Todd Monken said during the scouting meeting Wednesday. “I think what you see is elite playmaking ability – it’s in him. You saw it, we saw it. You saw it in college. You saw it on tape last year. Sure, there’s a long way to go, but what rookie doesn’t? I mean, what first-year player doesn’t have a long way to go?
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“So I’m excited to start with him, all of our quarterbacks and all of our players.”
Sanders is one of three quarterbacks under contract for 2026, the others being Dillon Gabriel and Deshaun Watson, also signed in 2025. Monken noted the Browns would do their “due diligence” in potentially bringing in another QB to compete for the role.
Monken called Cleveland’s current quarterback situation an open competition. But he noted that he would prefer the starting role to be settled before the start of training camp.
“One would hope that would be the case,” Monken said. “You hope that by the time you get to training camp, the reps you give to a quarterback will be for your starter. Whether we get to that place, I don’t know. That will be determined in the offseason as part of that, just another part of the piece.”
In eight games with seven starts as a rookie, Sanders completed 59.6 percent of his passes for 1,400 yards with seven touchdowns and 10 interceptions.
