Shedeur Sanders' Reaction to Deshaun Watson Being Named Browns' QB1 Revealed by Todd Monken

Cleveland Browns coach Todd Monken addressed his decision Monday to name Deshaun Watson the starting quarterback over Shedeur Sanders.

Monken said Sanders had an "awesome" reaction to learning he'll be the backup in Week 1.

"You talk about somebody that really understands the long game," the coach told reporters. "That really I think has come to understand the long game. What are we really in this for? What am I in it for? ... Where do we want to be in the long term? He understands that as well as a quarterback."

Monken praised Sanders' work to continue developing ahead of his second season. However, he believes Watson is a better option under center right now, especially since the team starts on the road against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

To some extent, Monken might be taking a longer view of the situation himself.

Any goodwill toward Watson is pretty much gone at this point. The majority of fans will have wanted Sanders to get the keys to the offense.

Now imagine Cleveland getting off to a poor start and Watson delivering more of the same from his first three years with the team — two things that can plausibly happen. The support behind Sanders will be even larger, and he'll get judged even less on the Browns' overall fortunes.

This might be applying too much game theory to Monken's decision. Coaches rarely go into a season trying to lose games, even when their team is rebuilding.

And it doesn't represent a strong endorsement of Sanders that he's not head and shoulders better than a veteran who has been in a years-long decline. Watson's last productive year under center was in 2020.

When Cleveland is widely projected to be one of the NFL's worst teams, why not pin your hopes to the player with far more long-term upside?

Hiring a new coach presents an opportunity for a franchise to wipe the slate clean, and it's way too early to make any concrete judgments about Monken. He probably hasn't made a great first impression on the fans, who are asking whether they'll witness more of the same futility and dysfunction from previous years.