Projecting the Browns QB depth chart after first preseason action: Deshaun Watson or Shedeur Sanders?

We’ve known for months that the Cleveland Browns had possibly the NFL’s strangest quarterback battle on their hands. You’ve got two second-year players in Shedeur Sanders and Dillon Gabriel, plus veteran Deshaun Watson, who has, frankly, been awful since joining the Browns. However, the team has also sunk so much into him financially that it would be hard to just give up on him completely. (Yes, that is the sunk cost fallacy!)

We’ve now had a chance to see the Browns in action, and that’s given us a better idea of how this depth chart will play out. Of the four quarterbacks battling for a roster spot, the third and fourth roles seem clear, though there is still a battle at hand for the starting role. 

Projected Cleveland Browns quarterback depth chart

The Browns reportedly will start Sanders for their second preseason game as the team tries to figure out which guy is the right starter, but Saturday’s performance made it clear that Watson is Cleveland’s best choice at the moment, provided the team’s 2026 goal is to attempt to win football games.

Watson wasn’t great in the team’s 34-10 loss to the Chicago Bears, going 11-for-15 for 126 yards with no touchdown passes and losing a fumble, but he was at least decent, which is more than can be said for the team’s other quarterbacks. Cleveland had two scoring drives on Saturday, and it was Watson who led them on those scoring drives, sometimes with little help from the rest of the lineup. On the first scoring drive, which ended in a field goal, all but one of the team’s yards came from Watson’s arm. On the touchdown drive, Watson had 63 passing yards while the run game produced just 23 yards. 

Sanders, meanwhile, played significantly worse. While you can generously argue that he had lesser talent around him in the second half, his stat line was still rough, as he was 6-for-11 for 79 yards with an interception. Sanders’ interception was, for lack of a better word, bad. Just one of those passes where it looks like he had no idea what he meant to do, as the ball sailed over his receiver's head and directly into the arms of a Bears defensive back.

Do I think the argument that the Browns are a bad team and thus should start the younger quarterback is a good one? Yes, but reality seems to be trending a different direction.

As for the battle for the QB3 role, Dillon Gabriel is ahead by default because he actually played. Not that Gabriel was good against the Bears either, going 5-for-8 for 23 yards with an interception. He very clearly isn’t part of the conversation for being QB1 or QB2 on this roster. Only the fact that rookie Taylen Green didn’t play makes it clear that right now, Gabriel is QB3.

Could that change? Maybe, but it’s possible the Browns just don't want other teams to get tape of him so they can ultimately cut him and then hope to stash him on the practice squad. The only way Green gets to the QB3 role for the start of the 2026 season is if Gabriel isn’t on this roster come Week 1. Would a team want to trade for him as a reclamation project? Can you justify cutting a guy you took in the third round last season? Probably not, so the best guess is that this part of the depth chart remains the same.

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