Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson will start against this former team, the visiting Houston Texans, on Sunday.
The Browns announced their decision on Wednesday morning, two days after head coach Todd Monken said he wasn’t ready to make the move official.
Watson went 5-3 in the first eight games but was inactive when Cleveland played at New Orleans on Sunday with Shedeur Sanders in the QB1 role. Watson was removed from concussion protocol on Saturday, but the team kept Sanders as the starter, likely due to Watson’s limited practice during the week.
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.
Watson has led five fourth-quarter, game-winning drives for the Browns in 2026.
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.
The Browns (5-4) acquired Watson from the Texans (3-5) 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.