Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson will return to the starting role for Sunday’s game against the Houston Texans.
Watson went 5-3 in the first eight games but did not clear concussion protocol before Cleveland played at New Orleans on Sunday with Shedeur Sanders in the QB1 role.
Sanders passed for 297 yards and two touchdowns for the Browns, including a game-tying drive in the fourth quarter to force overtime. He completed 19 of 31 passes. But the Browns lost 23-22.
Watson has led five fourth-quarter, game-winning drives for the Browns in 2026.
Head coach Todd Monken did not address questions about whether Sanders had done enough to remain the starter following Sunday’s loss in New Orleans.
“I’m not getting into quarterback. If we want to talk about Shedeur, we can talk about Shedeur,” Monken said after the one-point loss to the Saints.
Watson returned from two Achilles surgeries to the starting role in Monken’s first season, beating Sanders in a head-to-head competition spanning the offseason through the start of training camp.
Monken said Sanders did plenty of good things in his first start of 2026.
“I’m really proud of him. He wasn’t perfect. I wasn’t perfect,” Monken said. “But for a guy that really hasn’t taken snaps with the 1s in 10 weeks … to come in there and continue to battle, really, really proud of him. He’s really matured.”
The Browns acquired Watson from the Texans in March 2022, parting with first-round picks in 2022, 2023 and 2024 to address a position that has been a challenge for the franchise since returning to the NFL in 1999.
Until 2026, he had not played more than seven games in a season with the Browns.