Shedeur Sanders, along with Deshaun Watson, grabbed all the headlines during the 2026 offseason as Todd Monken looked for the perfect quarterback heading into his first NFL season as a head coach. While Sanders featured in eight games during the 2025 NFL season, Watson was returning to top-flight football after nearly two years away due to an Achilles tendon injury. Both the quarterbacks battled hard with the QB1 prize up for grabs.
After an intense battle throughout the offseason, training camp and preseason, Monken named Watson the starting quarterback over Sanders for the season opener against the Jacksonville Jaguars. This decision meant Watson had a lot of doubters to prove wrong, with many viewing Sanders as the future of the franchise.
Ken Blaze-Imagn Images
Proving them wrong is exactly what Watson did in the first four games of the season. While he struggled against the Jaguars in the first game, it was a blip, as he has bounced back over the next three games against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Carolina Panthers and Pittsburgh Steelers to solidify his place as QB1.
What does this mean for Sanders? Will he be traded before the deadline? Reports coming out of Cleveland suggest otherwise. Jeremy Fowler reported a few days ago that the Browns would be open to trading Sanders or Dillon Gabriel for the right price. However, Browns beat reporter Daryl Ruiter pushed back on that claim.
Ruiter took to X on Monday and reported that the Browns are not looking to trade Sanders. He wrote, “Browns are not looking to trade QB Shedeur Sanders. They really like how Sanders has developed under Todd Monken this year and want to keep developing him.”
Now, ESPN’s Daniel Oyefusi has further supported that report. Appearing on “92.3 The Fan”, Oyefusi said, “Yeah, I mean, the plan all along is, like as much as has been to kind of play the long game. And while they were pleased with what he did in the spring and the summer, almost kind of making it a competition in Monken’s words. You know, the plan is to continue working with him.”
Watson and the Browns will face the New York Jets in Week 5 of the 2026 NFL season on Sunday.
