![\"Browns](\"https:\/\/news2.watchtowatch.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-2229140968_e76d3d-e1762954641531.jpg\")
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The\u00a0Cleveland Browns\u00a0could soon have to make an interesting quarterback decision.<\/p>\n
Dillon Gabriel is still the starting quarterback, but fans have called for\u00a0Shedeur Sanders\u00a0to start games. Yet,\u00a0Deshaun Watson\u00a0is inching closer to a return, as he could have his practice window activated in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n
However, even if Watson is healthy, Browns insider Ken Carman doesn\u2019t think the veteran will start or play in any games this season.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m ready for someone new. I\u2019m ready for name whoever it is,\u201d Carman\u00a0said on 92.3 The Fan. \u201cAs this season goes, I\u2019m ready for Shedeur. I don\u2019t have very much belief that Deshaun Watson will get his career restarted anywhere else, and even if he does, fine. The fans don\u2019t like him here; this has been a nasty chapter in our history here. I\u2019m getting Facebook invites for when the guy gets cut, for crying out loud.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey don\u2019t want him out there. If I\u2019m looking at it from a football sense and I\u2019m just a football coach, yeah, of course, what Albert Breer says is true. But, I\u2019m not; I talk to fans every single day of my life. And, they don\u2019t want him out there. The ones who do have just given up. You are curious to see Shedeur.\u201d<\/p>\n
Carman believes Watson\u2019s time with the Browns was a failure, and he shouldn\u2019t play another game for the team, even if he is healthy.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Although Carman doesn\u2019t want to see Watson play for the Browns, the veteran quarterback is closing in on a return.<\/p>\n
Watson has been showing videos of himself training, and Cleveland could activate his 21-day\u00a0practice window very soon, according to insider Mary Kay Cabot.<\/p>\n
\u201cDeshaun Watson continues to make excellent progress in his comeback from a re-ruptured Achilles, but the Browns aren\u2019t opening his 21-day practice window this week,\u201d\u00a0Cabot said, citing a league source. \u201cThe Browns will wait at least until least Week 12 against the\u00a0Raiders\u00a0to 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski said on Monday that he wasn\u2019t sure what the plan for Watson is.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not sure if that\u2019s what we\u2019re doing,\u201d\u00a0Stefanski said.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
As Cleveland was searching for their franchise quarterback, the team made a bold move to acquire Watson from the\u00a0Houston Texans.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Due to his poor play and injuries, the trade hasn\u2019t worked out, and before the season, Browns co-owner Jimmy Haslam called the trade a big swing-and-miss.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe took a big swing-and-miss with Deshaun,\u201d Haslam\u00a0said. \u201cWe thought we had the quarterback; we didn\u2019t. And we gave up a lot of draft picks to get him, so we\u2019ve got to dig ourselves out of that hole. \u2026 (The trade) was an entire organization decision and it ends with Dee (Haslam) and I, so hold us accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Watson went 9-10 as the starting quarterback for the Browns.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0Cleveland Browns\u00a0are off to a 2-7 start, and fans have called for head coach Kevin Stefanski to be fired.<\/p>\n
However, it is unlikely that Stefanski\u00a0will 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe truth is, we have no idea what they are actually really thinking,\u201d Cabot\u00a0said on 92.3 The Fan. \u201cI know going into it, Jimmy Haslam has indicated, I believe at the owner\u2019s meetings, that he wasn\u2019t holding Kevin and Andrew\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think there was this sense of \u2018win or else\u2019 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\u2019t think this was a year where the expectations were super, crazy high. But, still, you have to see certain things from your football team. \u2026 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\u2019s going to want to try to maintain that continuity. And, see if they can\u2019t get this thing on the right track with a new quarterback they will probably draft in 2026.<\/p>\n
Cabot believes Haslam still has confidence in Berry and Stefanski, and both could very well return next season with a new quarterback.<\/p>\n
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\u00a0New York Jets.<\/p>\n
Following the loss, Stefanski made it clear that the goal and focus are on turning it around and finding ways to win.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously frustrated, disappointed on that result yesterday,\u201d Stefanski\u00a0said\u00a0on Monday. \u201cAnd we\u2019re 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\u2019re committed to this thing, and we\u2019ll just find ways to get better in all areas and we\u2019ll go from there. Big division game at our place this week.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The Browns will host the\u00a0Baltimore Ravens\u00a0on Sunday in a game Cleveland\u00a0is a 7.5-point underdog.<\/p>\n
Although Stefanski hasn\u2019t been fired, and there are no signs he will be, his name has come up for other jobs.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0New York Giants\u00a0fired Brian Daboll on Monday after a loss to the\u00a0Chicago Bears. Following Daboll\u2019s firing, NFL analyst Dan Orlovsky\u00a0links\u00a0Stefanski to the Giants.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe No. 1 name that I would pay attention to if I were the\u00a0Giants\u00a0is what happens in Cleveland with Kevin Stefanski,\u201d Orlovsky\u00a0said\u00a0on Monday on NFL Live. \u201cIf I could hand-pick a guy, it would be Stefanski. He\u2019s an outstanding coach, two-time Coach of the Year.<\/p>\n
\u201cI understand people in Cleveland are like, \u2018This guy can\u2019t coach\u2019. But there\u2019s a lot of empirical data that would say otherwise. \u2026 I would pay attention to see what\u2019s going on in Cleveland.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stefanski has been the Browns\u2019 head coach since 2020 and has led them to the playoffs twice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The\u00a0Cleveland Browns\u00a0could soon have to make an interesting quarterback decision. Dillon Gabriel is still the starting quarterback, but fans have called for\u00a0Shedeur Sanders\u00a0to start games. Yet,\u00a0Deshaun Watson\u00a0is inching closer to a return,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3283,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hot-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t