Recent comments from Todd Monken suggest he may be leaning one direction in the Cleveland Browns quarterback competition, even before a critical week of practice commences.
The Cleveland Browns quarterback competition has been the talk of the town through the first two weeks of training camp and now Week 1 of the preseason.
As the battle between Deshaun Watson and Shedeur rounds third and heads into the home stretch this week, head coach Todd Monken may have already made his decision and just may be waiting to announce it.
Speaking via a Zoom press conference on Sunday, following the Browns 34-10 loss to the Chicago Bears, Monken dropped some interesting comments regarding his plans to start Shedeur Sanders in the team's second preseason game next weekend.
"I did feel going into last game that it was relatively close in terms of both having an opportunity at the starting position, so it would be unfair to not go into the next game and give Shedeur that same opportunity," said Monken. "Albeit a different team, certainly at home. There’s no guarantee the same players will be playing in this game, but it’s the closest you have, and we owe it to both players, who have handled it well and competed at a high level."
The first thing that stands out is the very first statement, where he mentions that he "did" feel the competition was relatively close between Watson and Sanders, each getting a fair chance to win the job, leading into this past weekend's game. Using past tense suggests it may not be as close now, and that he may be leaning one way right now.
It's also fair to presume he'd be leaning toward Watson, who started with the first team against the Bears. Especially after Monken seemed genuinely pleased with Watson's performance after the game.
The second thing that stands out is Monken suggesting that he's continuing forward with Sanders' starting next weekend in the name of fairness. It just makes it seem like he already knows he's choosing Watson, but made a promise to Sanders so he's going to stick to it.
He also notes that the opportunity won't be totally equal to Watson's because he's unlikely to play many of the other starters around him after the team hosts a joint practice with the Buffalo Bills two days prior to playing them on the field.
It could be nothing, and Monken has certainly proven he's capable of changing his mind at any moment, but heading into the most important week of the competition, with that joint practice being a major evaluation tool for Cleveland's head man, he may be tipping his hand.
