Shedeur Sanders walked into Wednesday’s press conference with something he wanted to clear up. Entering his second NFL season, the Cleveland Browns quarterback has spent the past several weeks competing for the starting job in what has become one of the league’s most watched quarterback battles.
Sanders knows there is plenty riding on the next few weeks. He started seven games as a rookie in 2025 and finished with a 3-4 record, 1,400 passing yards, seven touchdowns and 10 interceptions.
The competition with Deshaun Watson has continued into the final week of training camp. Cleveland’s first unofficial depth chart lists Watson or Sanders as the starter for Saturday’s preseason opener, while Dillon Gabriel sits behind them.
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Sanders opened his press conference by addressing the way he handled his previous media session.
“First, I want to apologize on how I was last time I came up here before y’all,” Sanders said.
He explained that his short answers two weeks ago were intentional. Sanders said he wanted to preserve his energy for practice and the field, noting that repeated questions about the quarterback competition had started to drain him (h/t Mary Cabot of Cleveland.com).
Cleveland will open the preseason Saturday against the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field. The Browns will then host the Buffalo Bills on Aug. 22 before finishing against the New England Patriots on Aug. 27.
The first two games should provide the clearest comparison yet between Sanders and Watson. Cleveland has not announced a permanent starter, and there’s a strong possibility that Sanders and Watson will alternate starts in the opening preseason games.
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