BEREA, Ohio — For the first time in Cleveland Browns training camp, there’s been a change in the quarterback order.Deshaun Watson was first up with the No. 1 offense for the second straight day Saturday and ran exclusively with the starters. By previous rotation, Saturday would have been Shedeur Sanders’ day with the No. 1 offense.The change is notable for multiple reasons. Through the spring and the first eight days of camp, Watson and Sanders alternated days with the No. 1 offense, with a near 50-50 split of total reps. Before Saturday’s practice, Browns coach Todd Monken told reporters Sanders would get the majority of snaps with the potential exception of Watson getting an extra seven-on-seven session, which had happened on one of Sanders’ four previous days as the lead man.Instead, we can take Saturday’s change as only the first strong sign that Monken views Watson as the clear leader of what’s been an uneven and unremarkable competition through two weeks of camp. Saturday was the Browns’ sixth practice in six days; Monken was not available to reporters after practice.“There were personnel groupings (Monken) wanted to see Deshaun with,” a team spokesman said after practice.At least for one day, Monken apparently wanted to see Watson in all of them. Saturday was Watson’s strongest overall throwing day of camp, too, marking his third impressive performance of the Browns’ long week. Watson struggled mightily in two early camp practices, leaving the impression that Sanders might be in the lead despite Monken’s insistence that he was rushing to no judgments of any kind. There have been 18 interceptions thrown in competitive drills by Watson, Sanders and Dillon Gabriel over the first 10 days of camp; Watson threw six over the first four days.Watson hasn’t played since October 2024. He missed last season while recovering from a twice-torn Achilles tendon. He’s in the final year of the fully guaranteed $230 million contract he signed in 2022 after the Browns traded three first-round picks to acquire him from the Houston Texans. It’s been one of the worst trades in NFL history as Watson is 9-10 as the Browns’ starter and the team is undergoing a youth movement on the roster that included trading away two-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett in June.The Browns probably will look to find their quarterback of the future in the 2027 draft. But Monken appears to be leaning toward one more run with Watson, 30, a decision that indicates Monken is unburdened by recent history of Watson and the Cleveland franchise. In March 2025, Browns owner Jimmy Haslam called the Watson trade “a swing and a miss” as the team embarked on an offseason quarterback search that ended with the Browns drafting Gabriel in the third and Sanders in the fifth round of the 2025 draft. The Browns traded away Kenny Pickett last August and Joe Flacco last October.Sanders, 24, started the final seven games of his rookie season and seems the more logical choice given the Browns’ overall youth and ongoing rebuild across the offensive roster. But Monken had divided the reps equally through the spring and the first eight installation-based days of full camp. He also altered his original plan of naming a starter early in camp because he said both Watson and Sanders deserved more opportunities to win the job.Monken has said since the spring that Watson’s NFL experience should give him an edge in handling the overall operation — things such as commanding the huddle, using the cadence and diagnosing defensive looks — and said this month that those were probably the areas in which Sanders had the most room to improve. The Browns don’t practice Sunday, a day Monken said the coaching staff would use to evaluate what’s happened in camp and how the next stage should be handled. Cleveland’s preseason opener is next Saturday in Chicago. And though Monken said he expected Watson or Sanders to start that game and the other to start Aug. 22 versus Buffalo, he also said that was “subject to change.”Since the most recent practice brought camp’s most significant change, perhaps Monken is closer to a decision than he’s previously let on.Aug 8, 2026Connections: Sports EditionSpot the pattern. Connect the termsFind the hidden link between sports terms