The Cleveland Browns still have yet to decide who their starting QB for the 2026 season will be. The toss-up is between Shedeur Sanders and Deshaun Watson. And Skip Bayless has suggested Sanders as his preferred choice as the Browns' QB.

"He [Shedeur] earned the right to benefit from this growth," said Bayless about Sanders while speaking on The Arena: Gridiron. The analyst discussed how far Shedeur Sanders had developed over the past year and how he fit into the Browns' new offense.

“Cleveland has had back-to-back, what I would call, A+ drafts. Cleveland did a lot of good things in free agency to completely tear down and rebuild the offensive line. Because of that, I want Shedeur," Skip reasoned.

The Browns are coming off a couple of last-place finishes in the AFC North, largely due to their offense's ineffectiveness, which ranked 31st in PPG in the league. In such circumstances, the front office has made some serious draft acquisitions.

Cleveland signed two wide receivers, namely KC Concepcion and Denzel Boston, as well as left tackle Spencer Fano. All three draft picks ranked in the top 40 in the 2026 NFL draft. Bayless pointed out how the Browns have not re-signed any of the veteran starters.

The analyst felt that Sanders showed more promise as a starting quarterback overall, compared to veteran Deshaun Watson. However, the latter still seems to be the front office's preference.

In the eight games he played last season, Sanders accumulated 1400 yards while throwing for seven touchdowns. Meanwhile, Watson's best days look like a blast from the distant past.

The veteran QB's last elite season was back in 2020 with Houston, hitting 33 touchdowns. Over the last five seasons, he has missed massive time, playing just 19 of 85 possible games due to multiple severe injuries.

"If you did a silent vote in the locker room, a secret vote, they would vote for Shedeur,” Skip went on to say, further affirming his belief that Shedeur Sanders would be the choice of the Browns' roster.

Are the Browns Simply Wasting Shedeur Sanders?

Despite his claim that the locker room would prefer Sanders, Skip Bayless fears the organization is mismanaging their 2025 draft pick.

"It's just wasting time, it's wasting him, it's just like they did last year," Bayless stated, expressing his frustration on The Arena. And unfortunately, he predicted that Sanders will be benched, at least at the beginning of the season.

The biggest reason for this is Watson’s massive $46 million salary.

NFL insider Peter Schrager said that ownership demands Watson play to justify the price tag and to some extent, for their pride. And Todd Monken, as a new head coach, will likely follow those top-down orders.

So Bayless fully expects Deshaun Watson to be the first game starter for the Cleveland Browns. This would mean that for the second season running, Shedeur will have to prove himself to get gametime.

Read more at the Cleveland Browns Community!

Written by

Nisarga Aseem Barkule

Edited by

Arundhoti Palit