The Cleveland Browns could soon have to make an interesting quarterback decision.
Dillon Gabriel is still the starting quarterback, but fans have called for Shedeur Sanders to start games. Yet, Deshaun Watson is inching closer to a return, as he could have his practice window activated in the coming weeks.
However, even if Watson is healthy, Browns insider Ken Carman doesn’t think the veteran will start or play in any games this season.
“I’m ready for someone new. I’m ready for name whoever it is,” Carman said on 92.3 The Fan. “As this season goes, I’m ready for Shedeur. I don’t have very much belief that Deshaun Watson will get his career restarted anywhere else, and even if he does, fine. The fans don’t like him here; this has been a nasty chapter in our history here. I’m getting Facebook invites for when the guy gets cut, for crying out loud.
“They don’t want him out there. If I’m looking at it from a football sense and I’m just a football coach, yeah, of course, what Albert Breer says is true. But, I’m not; I talk to fans every single day of my life. And, they don’t want him out there. The ones who do have just given up. You are curious to see Shedeur.”
Carman believes Watson’s time with the Browns was a failure, and he shouldn’t play another game for the team, even if he is healthy.
Instead, the Browns insider thinks Cleveland should stick with Gabriel and start Sanders later on in the season before finding a franchise quarterback in the offseason.
Although Carman doesn’t want to see Watson play for the Browns, the veteran quarterback is closing in on a return.
Watson has been showing videos of himself training, and Cleveland could activate his 21-day practice window very soon, according to insider Mary Kay Cabot.
“Deshaun Watson continues to make excellent progress in his comeback from a re-ruptured Achilles, but the Browns aren’t opening his 21-day practice window this week,” Cabot said, citing a league source. “The Browns will wait at least until least Week 12 against the Raiders to designate Watson for return from reserve/Physically Unable to Perform. They expect to have more clarity on his timeframe over the next couple of weeks.”
However, Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski said on Monday that he wasn’t sure what the plan for Watson is.
“I’m not sure if that’s what we’re doing,” Stefanski said.
Watson has been out for more than a year due to an Achilles injury. He had a setback in January, which resulted in a second surgery.
As Cleveland was searching for their franchise quarterback, the team made a bold move to acquire Watson from the Houston Texans.
The Browns acquired Watson in a package that included three first-round picks. Cleveland then signed Watson to a $230 million contract that was fully guaranteed.
Due to his poor play and injuries, the trade hasn’t worked out, and before the season, Browns co-owner Jimmy Haslam called the trade a big swing-and-miss.
“We took a big swing-and-miss with Deshaun,” Haslam said. “We thought we had the quarterback; we didn’t. And we gave up a lot of draft picks to get him, so we’ve got to dig ourselves out of that hole. … (The trade) was an entire organization decision and it ends with Dee (Haslam) and I, so hold us accountable.”
Watson went 9-10 as the starting quarterback for the Browns.
The Cleveland Browns are off to a 2-7 start, and fans have called for head coach Kevin Stefanski to be fired.
However, it is unlikely that Stefanski will be fired this season. Meanwhile, Browns insider Mary Kay Cabot revealed that he is likely to return in 2026. General manager Andrew Berry is also expected back, according to Cabot.
“The truth is, we have no idea what they are actually really thinking,” Cabot said on 92.3 The Fan. “I know going into it, Jimmy Haslam has indicated, I believe at the owner’s meetings, that he wasn’t holding Kevin and Andrew’s feet to the fire because this was the year they were trying to figure out what they had in one of these rookie quarterbacks. Or, at least at that point, they knew it was going to be one rookie quarterback.
“I don’t think there was this sense of ‘win or else’ this season. It was about fact-finding and figuring out what they had and helping them inform what to do in the 2026 draft. I just don’t think this was a year where the expectations were super, crazy high. But, still, you have to see certain things from your football team. … I do think that Jimmy believes in continuity and alignment in his organization. And, he knows that this is a challenging year with all of the rookies. In a perfect world, he’s going to want to try to maintain that continuity. And, see if they can’t get this thing on the right track with a new quarterback they will probably draft in 2026.
Cabot believes Haslam still has confidence in Berry and Stefanski, and both could very well return next season with a new quarterback.
Cleveland has struggled this season as the Browns are off to a 2-7 start and coming off a disappointing 27-20 road loss to the New York Jets.
Following the loss, Stefanski made it clear that the goal and focus are on turning it around and finding ways to win.
“Obviously frustrated, disappointed on that result yesterday,” Stefanski said on Monday. “And we’re spending time right now watching it with the players and trying to learn from that. You know, hard to win on the road, and certainly hard when you do some of the things we did in that ball game. But we’re committed to this thing, and we’ll just find ways to get better in all areas and we’ll go from there. Big division game at our place this week.”
Stefanski believes the Browns have to be better in all three phases of the game. Despite that being an issue all season, he has full confidence in his group.
The Browns will host the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday in a game Cleveland is a 7.5-point underdog.
Although Stefanski hasn’t been fired, and there are no signs he will be, his name has come up for other jobs.
The New York Giants fired Brian Daboll on Monday after a loss to the Chicago Bears. Following Daboll’s firing, NFL analyst Dan Orlovsky links Stefanski to the Giants.
“The No. 1 name that I would pay attention to if I were the Giants is what happens in Cleveland with Kevin Stefanski,” Orlovsky said on Monday on NFL Live. “If I could hand-pick a guy, it would be Stefanski. He’s an outstanding coach, two-time Coach of the Year.
“I understand people in Cleveland are like, ‘This guy can’t coach’. But there’s a lot of empirical data that would say otherwise. … I would pay attention to see what’s going on in Cleveland.”
Stefanski has been the Browns’ head coach since 2020 and has led them to the playoffs twice.