Shedeur Sanders in limbo as Browns decline to name starter

Shedeur Sanders exited 2025 as the starting quarterback of the Cleveland Browns.

He entered 2026 as their starting quarterback. He made the Pro Bowl. But even though the young QB believes he did enough to solidify his spot as the team’s leader, new head coach Todd Monken isn’t flinching.

As we head towards summer training camp, Monken hasn’t decided who will be the team’s QB1 to open up the next chapter of Browns football, detailing his thought process in a recent interview.

“I would love to have that,” Monken said when asked if he’d like to know his starter before training camp. “I’m not there yet, so I can’t say that. We’ve been on the field 3 practices. … There’s only so many reps you get, you’ve got to start to target towards who is gonna start opening day. That can still change. That can change, even if someone is gonna get two-thirds of the reps and someone’s getting one-third of the reps, because you’re still gonna play preseason games.”

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Although it’s not a death knell for Sanders’ hopes of staying the team’s starter, it’s another blow to the youngster’s confidence.

If he had done enough to be at least the frontrunner, Monken and other Browns staff would have framed it as if Sanders would have to continually prove himself against young and veteran competition to keep his spot.

Instead, every conversation seems like a free-for-all for the starter job, effectively treating Sanders’ time as the Browns starter as a distant memory of a past regime.

With recent murmurs that veteran Deshaun Watson might be the leader in the clubhouse, Sanders could soon be fighting not to start for the Browns but to keep his spot on the active roster.

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