After missing the entirety of the 2025 NFL season after tearing—and subsequently re-tearing—his Achilles, rolling his ankle several months later, Deshaun Watson has largely been out of sight and out of mind, almost forgotten about around the football world.
However, it appears as if that’s going to change in due time, because according to a recent report from Mark Kay Cabot, Watson has emerged as the leader in the clubhouse to begin the season as the Cleveland Browns’ starting quarterback ahead of Shedeur Sanders.
“Deshaun Watson emerged from the Browns voluntary minicamp last week with an edge over Shedeur Sanders in the two-man quarterback competition — and has the inside track to be named the Browns QB1, sources tell cleveland.com,”
The now 30-year-old Watson was, of course, acquired by the Browns in a blockbuster trade that sent three first-round picks and three mid-round picks to the Houston Texans back in 2022.
Watson’s tenure with the Browns has not been pretty, to say the least, though part-owner JW Johnson believes he’s in as good a place as he’s been both physically and mentally heading into 2026.
“Deshaun looks great, by the way. He’s done a great job. He looks healthy, he’s in a great headspace. We’ll see how it all shakes out. There is an ongoing competition. But, you know, he’s got nothing to lose, and if he’s our starting quarterback I know there are people that probably won’t be supportive, but they should be as supportive as they can. And if he plays great, then hey, awesome. If he doesn’t, then you know it is what it is, and we’re looking ahead to the future,”
Whether it results in Watson returning to form, which we haven’t seen since the 2020–21 campaign in Houston, remains very much up in the air. That being said, the fact that this situation hasn’t been much of a distraction so far should be viewed as a positive for Cleveland.
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