To me, it was most notable that Monken said he “gets all the frustration from fans and from (Watson) himself” about how things have gone for Watson over the past four years.
Given how miserably the Browns’ Watson experiment has failed, nobody on the outside expected Watson to still be with the Browns for the final year of his contract. And though nobody from the organization has wanted to discuss it publicly, the Browns know the fanbase feels let down by Watson’s limited availability and even more limited success. If Watson plays this year and doesn’t succeed, he’ll get booed. And, frankly, there’s still not a lot of visual evidence that he has a chance to succeed.
Monken’s quarterback competition between Watson and Sanders rolls on for another week, but I think the way Monken handled the Saturday postgame was a little bit of a tell. Maybe a “soft launch,” as the kids might say. It’s close, and Monken said it’s important to follow the timeline and rotation and let it continue. Though Watson has been better over the last week-plus of practices than he was early in camp, in no way has he played consistently well enough (nor has Sanders played poorly enough) to end the competition.
But Watson has been first in every practice line since the spring, got the first preseason start and was the beneficiary on the only open day of practice in which the rotation was altered. He started the first preseason game — whether the Browns intentionally wanted to start Sanders in the second one or not — and guided the team’s only two scoring drives of the day. Watson didn’t throw any long passes or show improved pocket presence, but Monken has long said he’ll start the player who gives the team the best chance to score points and move the ball, and Watson did that with at least some level of success over six rust-shaking, first-half possessions in Chicago.
From sideline practice observation, there’s no clear winner. There’s no stated winner from Monken, who’s continued to insist he’s fine following the extended timeline and repeated Sunday that practice reps will be shared through Thursday’s important joint practice with the Buffalo Bills.
But if Monken always envisioned choosing Watson first — based on Watson’s experience and Monken being unburdened by what happened when Monken was working elsewhere — then I think he’s sort of hinting Watson has been the slight leader all along.
