Shedeur Sanders and Deshaun Watson are in the mix to be the Browns' starter, but GM Andrew Berry noted Tuesday that the decision doesn't need to be made soon.
GM Andrew Berry explains what he's looking for Shedeur Sanders to work on to show he's ready to start for the Browns next season. Daniel Oyefusi covers the Cleveland Browns for ESPN. Prior to ESPN, he covered the Miami Dolphins for the Miami Herald, as well as the Baltimore Ravens for The Baltimore Sun.
"We don't have to make that decision anytime soon," Berry said Tuesday at the NFL combine."I think any player that we have in that room we would expect to compete to earn a role. Those two would be no different." New Browns coach Todd Monken previously did not commit to Sanders, who started the final seven games of the 2025 season, as the team's starter when speaking at his introductory news conference. Berry also previously said that the Browns are expected to search for a quarterback addition this offseason.Sanders, the 144th pick in the 2025 draft, began his career as the Browns' No. 4 quarterback. The Browns held a QB competition last summer, but Sanders did not receive any starting reps in practice during training camp. As a starter, Sanders had a 3-4 record, including wins in the final two games of the season, but he recorded the fifth-lowest QBR among 696 quarterbacks with at least 200 attempts in the QBR era . "I think the biggest thing that we want to see from Shedeur is just continued growth," Berry said."I think he grew a lot from Start 1 to Start 7. I think certainly playing more efficiently, not putting the ball in harm's way as much would be important while maintaining the ability to produce out of structure and generate explosive plays. "You're not going to see all of that in the upcoming months because we're not on the field. So the biggest thing that he can do is learn the new offense, get in with the coaching staff once our offseason program starts, continue to work on his body physically and then make strides when we actually get on the grass." Watson is expected to be on the Browns' roster in 2026 despite not playing this past season as he rehabbed the Achilles injury he suffered in October 2024. He has played in only 19 games since the Browns traded three first-round picks and gave him a fully guaranteed $230 million in March 2022. Since joining Cleveland, his 33.1 Total QBR would rank last among qualifying passers. Cleveland owes Watson $46 million in salary next season, and he has an $80.7 million cap hit in 2026, the largest in the NFL, but it will likely be reduced via a restructure that gives the Browns more cap space in free agency. "Deshaun's been working really hard, he's been working his tail off," Berry said."And like I said, we're excited to go in mid-April with all of our players across the roster.""He may be forgotten externally, but he's not forgotten to us," Berry said."Look, Dillon, he's working. He's going to handle everything that's within his control, and we love all of our players and our home roster. Dillon's a guy that has a bright future in this league."
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