Browns pick Deshaun Watson over Shedeur Sanders for Texans

Saturday started with Watson in the concussion protocol and the whole league already talking about the kid in Cleveland.

Jeremy Fowler

@JFowlerESPN

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Then the curveball. Around midday Watson cleared the protocol, stayed questionable and made the trip to New Orleans. The plan didn't change, though: Sanders was still starting. Todd Monken had already announced it with a line any Browns fan could get behind: "I'm fired up; let's see what we've got."

The hype machine cranked up right on schedule. This was Sanders' first start of the season, and the internet treated it like a playoff game.

Ian Rapoport

@RapSheet

The Shedeur Sanders hype video before his first start of the season.

Meanwhile the league settled the bill for the hit that got Sanders here in the first place. Steelers safety Jaquan Brisker was fined $17,911 for his shot on Watson last week. Watson went into the protocol a day later, and Brisker made it clear he disagreed with the flag, and with the fine before it even came down.

Tom Pelissero

@TomPelissero

The NFL fined Steelers safety Jaquan Brisker $17,911 for this hit on Deshaun Watson last week. Watson entered the concussion protocol a day later and has since cleared. Shedeur Sanders is expected to start Sunday vs. New Orleans.

By Sunday morning it was official. Watson had practiced only once all week, so he was inactive, and Dillon Gabriel slid in as QB2. The other storyline of the day was down in New Orleans: a clip of Sanders talking about the Saints defense had been passed around their building all week. Kellen Moore reportedly brought it up in a meeting, and his players talked about it openly with reporters.

Jeremy Fowler

@JFowlerESPN

This clip of Shedeur Sanders discussing the Saints defense made the rounds in New Orleans’ building. Head coach Kellen Moore referenced it in a meeting, per sources, while players openly discussed it to reporters. However Sanders meant it, New Orleans seemed to have some fun with it.

After the game Sanders said he wasn't trying to disrespect anybody. And when the game itself started, he looked nothing like a guy who'd been holding a clipboard for 8 weeks. He finished 19-of-31 for 297 yards, 2 touchdowns and no picks, and he did it while getting sacked 5 times. The big one came in the third quarter, when he hit rookie KC Concepcion for a 64-yard touchdown that put Cleveland up 13-9.

The ending was chaos. New Orleans went up 16-13 with 58 seconds left, so Sanders went to Jerry Jeudy for 30 yards and again for 7 to set up Andre Szmyt's tying field goal. In overtime the Saints scored on a 15-yard touchdown pass to go up 23-16. Sanders answered with Harold Fannin Jr. turning a checkdown into a 39-yard catch-and-run touchdown with a minute left. Cleveland went for 2 and the win. Sanders rolled right, threw for Denzel Boston in the end zone, and it fell incomplete. Teams are now 1-for-5 on overtime 2-point tries since the league guaranteed both teams a possession in 2025.

It's still a loss, and Cleveland is 5-4. But one number from Sunday is going to hang over the Browns quarterback room all week, and it's about the deep ball.

NFL Researcher

@NFL_Researcher

Browns QB on deep passes this season, per @NextGenStats: Deshaun Watson (8 games) 8-29, 272 yds, 2 TD, 1 INT, 74.8 passer rating Shedeur Sanders (today) 3-3, 154 yds, 1 TD, 0 INT, 158.3 passer rating

So yeah, 3 deep completions in 1 afternoon against 8 for Watson in 8 games, and people noticed. It didn't matter. On Monday the reports came in that Cleveland plans to start Watson in Week 10 against the Texans, the team that drafted him before he was traded to Cleveland in 2022. Apparently that was always the plan once he cleared the protocol.

Joe Schad

@schadjoe

This is Deshaun’s team

Jeremy Fowler

@JFowlerESPN

The Browns plan to start Deshaun Watson in Week 10 vs the Texans, per source. Shedeur Sanders filled in Sunday in New Orleans, but returning to Watson was the expected move once he cleared concussion protocol.

Monken didn't help settle it. Right after the game he wouldn't say whether Sanders had earned another start, and the case for Watson comes down to his late-game résumé this season.

Mary Kay Cabot

@MaryKayCabot

ICYMI: Todd Monken declines to say if Shedeur Sanders made a case for another start vs. #Saints, but Deshaun Watson still has 5 4Q game-winning drives to put the #Browns in playoff contention: --> t.co/EtjykkCH2p

The Browns are in a 2-game skid with Baltimore sitting 4-5 right behind them in the AFC North, so Monken is betting on the guy who's already won games late this year. That's defensible. It also means Sanders goes back to the bench after the best deep-passing day any Browns quarterback has had this season. If Watson has one ugly quarter against his old team on Sunday, expect all of this to start up again.