As the Cleveland Browns go about the process of installing and refining their offense under new coach Todd Monken, the small details count and are drilled repeatedly.For those of us watching from the outside, the quarterback competition is what really matters in late May. And, yes, it feels like we’ve watched this movie repeatedly. So, as the Browns on Wednesday went through their fifth of 10 organized team activity practices — and the second one open to reporters — what most were really watching again involved the quarterbacks: the order, the throws, the leaping to conclusions and the occasional leaping catch made necessary by repeated high throws.The second open OTA practice featured fewer botched snaps and false starts than the first. That’s progress. The typical (and expected) sloppiness that comes with a new offense and what’s pretty much an entirely new offensive operation was still there. The quarterback competition between Deshaun Watson and Shedeur Sanders still appears to be undecided, and Sanders worked with the No. 1 offensive group in the instructional periods of practice a week after Watson spent the majority of the open practice with the starters — or most of them, anyway. These practices are still voluntary, and among those either absent or not participating were starting offensive linemen Elgton Jenkins and Tytus Howard, tight end Harold Fannin Jr. and around half of the projected starting defense.Monken got the day off from media availability, so after practice, offensive coordinator Travis Switzer was asked about the offense’s growth and the state of the quarterback competition at the midway point of the full-practice portion of the offseason. Switzer knew the question was coming and wasn’t going to provide any deep insight, but he said the “progression” by both Watson and Sanders is “encouraging” and that the offense as a whole is off to a good start as the quarterback competition continues.“I don’t know that we have somebody who’s ahead,” Switzer said.Mostly, that checks out. By total reps in open practices and what appears to be a mostly equal division of labor, there’s no obvious leader. By Watson being first in line for individual drills in all three open practices this spring, first up for Wednesday’s first competitive period and the only passer up for a two-minute situation to close Wednesday’s practice, it’s fair to assume he’s the leader.That two-minute drill ended in a quick three-and-out after Watson had two passes broken up, so it was more of a 15-second drill that went to the defense. But on a set of practice fields that have seen more than a few extended touchdown droughts, the Browns actually crossing the goal line in what’s essentially the passing-camp portion of the offseason beats many prior results.Watson looks healthy. He’s throwing (and moving) with confidence after he missed all of 2025 while recovering from a twice-torn Achilles tendon. The coaches are evaluating lots of things, on and off the practice field, but when it comes to what outside observers have seen over three open practices, Watson has definitely made more impressive throws than any other Browns quarterback. In Wednesday’s practice, he had tight-window throws to both rookie Denzel Boston and Isaiah Bond, one that would have left Boston with one man to beat near the goal line had it been an open-play situation and the other resulting in an end zone catch.Watson hasn’t often reeled off a series of completions or memorable throws, but in glimpses, he’s impressed. But there were impressive glimpses from Watson during his first three seasons in Cleveland, too. Not many, though, so pardon the skepticism in regard to spring non-contact practices. The Browns seem willing to give Watson one more chance, and though Watson seems to have prepared himself physically for a last shot at making things work, we’re months from knowing what that might yield.We’re only seeing a portion of the full offseason picture, and in what we’ve seen through voluntary minicamp and a pair of OTA sessions, almost every Watson throw that makes for a social media highlight has been followed by a familiar miss. The guess from here is that the coaching staff is mostly focused on consistency of reads, mastery of the operation and overall performance. It’s probably fair to guess, too, that the coaching staff has to be worried both about the lack of accuracy from the quarterback group as a whole and the drops on passes that should be caught.Sanders made what appeared to be a perfect pass on a corner route Wednesday to Luke Floriea in the end zone, but the pass fell to the ground after hitting Floriea’s outstretched arms. All three of the interceptions Wednesday came after passes that hit the intended receiver’s hands; picks thrown by Sanders in an early 11-on-11 drill and by Dillon Gabriel in seven-on-seven came on bad drops by intended receivers that sent the ball into the arms of waiting defenders.Gabriel’s only three competitive reps Wednesday came in that seven-on-seven period, which underscores what we already knew: This is Watson vs. Sanders, with Monken ideally naming a winner by the start of training camp in late July but not promising any kind of firm timeline. If you’re really into counting, Watson got about a half-dozen more competitive 11-on-11 snaps than Sanders over the course of Wednesday’s practice, and Sanders got three more than Watson in the seven-on-seven period.It’s clear that Boston, a second-round pick last month, has shown up ready to compete and is earning the trust of his quarterbacks. First-round wide receiver KC Concepcion’s speed is obvious, and he’s shown a fearlessness in going after passes in traffic. The major knock on Concepcion’s game was a lack of consistency in catching the ball, and that’s going to be an ongoing battle.Right now, the Browns have lots of ongoing battles. The rookies represent optimism. The drops, the interceptions and the dubious past are reasons to remain skeptical. Switzer said the Browns essentially installed the full offense with the veterans during the second phase of the offseason ahead of OTAs, so taking that installation to full-speed practice vs. the defense is kind of “starting over.” The rookie wide receivers are mostly working with the No. 2 offense for now, but they’re already mixing in with the first group. And once Fannin is cleared from whatever undisclosed issue has him watching these practices from the sideline, we’ll know more about how Monken and Switzer plan to hunt mismatches and try to set up big plays down the field.With the next practice viewing scheduled for the final week of OTA sessions and a full mandatory minicamp set for June 9-11, we should expect to see at least a little more from the offense — and a smoother overall operation — by the end of the offseason. Improvement seems possible and even likely if the Browns can get the kind of steady quarterback play that’s been missing for so long, which is why we’re watching so closely now, even if we’re overreacting a bit. The Browns have been trying to get things right at quarterback for about 17 of their last 20 seasons, and eventually these spring practices have to be about building on what’s been done rather than searching and hoping for something that even resembles the answer.May 28, 2026Connections: Sports EditionSpot the pattern. Connect the termsFind the hidden link between sports terms