The Browns are shifting into Week 1 preparation with a change that puts Shedeur Sanders right in the middle of it. Todd Monken said Sanders and Taylen Green will split the scout-team reps as Cleveland begins working on Jacksonville’s schemes and tendencies.
The timing matters because Dillon Gabriel was placed on injured reserve with a designation to return after the first four games, and he cannot practice until October. That leaves Sanders and Green to absorb the practice load now, while the Browns sort through the quarterback room that was pared down to the initial 53-man roster without keeping four passers. Sanders is the name that keeps coming back first because he is the one who already has real game experience in this system.
That experience is part of why his role draws attention now. Sanders spent six weeks as Cleveland’s primary backup last season before starting the final seven games, though he never got practice reps with the No. 1 offense before being pressed into action. This time he has had an entire offseason to learn Monken’s scheme and work with different offensive personnel groups, a different starting point from the one he had a year ago.
Monken sounded encouraged by what he saw from Sanders over the summer. He said Sanders did a lot of really good things, and added that he was proud of how far he has come since arriving. Monken also said Sanders plays with a lot of confidence and that the staff looks forward to him continuing to grow as a player. That matters because the Browns do not look locked into a long-term quarterback order beyond Deshaun Watson, even after Monken announced in late August that Watson had won the job after an offseason competition with Sanders.
Watson’s status is what makes the picture feel unsettled instead of settled. He has not played since 2024 and is signed only for this season, while the Browns have spent the past three years cycling through at least three different starting quarterbacks each season. The pattern is older than that, too: since the team returned to the NFL in 1999, Cleveland has had at least three different starters 12 times. That history is one reason the backup spot matters so much in Cleveland, where the primary backup has started at least one pre-November game in seven of the last 10 years.
Green was clearly fourth in line through the summer, and the Browns’ plans for him seemed aimed more at 2027 than 2026. So the immediate work now falls to Sanders, who is next in line if the depth chart shifts the way it so often has in Cleveland. Gabriel will sit out the opening stretch, Green will handle part of the scout-team work, and Sanders will get the snaps that shape the first phase of the season. In a quarterback room like this one, that is not a side note. It is the beginning of the story.
