Shedeur Sanders Apologizes to Reporters for Response to Question on Watson, Browns' QB Competition

Cleveland Browns second-year quarterback Shedeur Sanders apologized to reporters Thursday for the manner in which he recently answered a question about his QB competition with Deshaun Watson.

Speaking to reporters for the first time since bristling at a question about competing with Watson, Sanders said, "How's everybody doing? Good, good. First, I want to apologize for how things was last time I came up here before y'all. I dislike when it's a lot of separation. When something gets between the team and people get painted a certain way and all this different type of stuff. So that's where I get frustrated, and I shut down. Because it just doesn't help us win."

Sanders was referencing an exchange he had with a reporter on Aug. 1 regarding his camp battle with Watson. At the time, Sanders said, "I answered this question a thousand times. We focus on ourselves and what we do, and what we need to do to get better each and every day. So, that's just something ya'll think about and y'all care about."

On Thursday, Sanders suggested that his curt response earlier this month was something of a defense mechanism, saying, "I feel drained when I express myself to people and places and cameras when it's not received and taken the right way, or like we're trying to divide the team or anything like that. That's where I was trying to preserve my energy from going in depth with a lot of things."

A fifth-round pick in the 2025 NFL draft, Sanders started the Browns' final seven games of his rookie season.

Sanders went 3-4 as a starter and finished his rookie campaign by completing 56.6 percent of his passes for 1,400 yards, seven touchdowns and 10 interceptions. He also rushed for 169 yards and one score.

With Watson missing the entire 2025 season due to a torn Achilles, the Browns' starting quarterback battle was between Joe Flacco, Dillon Gabriel and Sanders.

Flacco won the starting job out of training camp and Sanders began the season as the QB3, but after Flacco was traded to the Cincinnati Bengals and Gabriel got injured, Sanders had his opportunity to start.

Although Gabriel is still on the team, much of the focus has been on the competition between Sanders and Watson.

Watson was once among the NFL's best quarterbacks, earning three consecutive Pro Bowl appearances with the Houston Texans from 2018 to 2020.

However, Watson has not been the same quarterback since getting traded to the Browns in 2022, going 9-10 as a starter and throwing for 3,365 yards, 19 touchdowns and 12 picks during his time with the franchise.

Saturday marks the first opportunity for Sanders and Watson to make their case to head coach Todd Monken in a game situation, as the Browns will face the Chicago Bears in their preseason opener.