Just when it looked like Shedeur Sanders was closing in on Cleveland's QB1 job, prominent NFL insider Mike Florio poured cold water on the hype. The analyst believes Sanders still faces an uphill climb, with Deshaun Watson surprisingly remaining the favorite entering training camp.

Talking about the same, Florio talked about a hypothetical scenario wherein Monken gives a reality check to Shedeur Sanders.

“And I said to Shedeur, ‘You can’t win the job if this is how you’re going to approach these drills. You've got to put everything into it, or Watson is the guy who’s going to earn the job. And by the time that we go play, the decision will have been made,” said Mike Florio.

Now there's a reason for this belief. While Dillon Gabriel remains in the conversation, the Browns' quarterback competition has largely centered on Deshaun Watson and Shedeur Sanders. But even before the OTA, there was one differentiating factor between the two.

Mike Florio pointed out a single offseason practice clip and argued that while Watson had a smoother sequence when he executed the fake-pitch before delivering a clean throw, Sanders failed to impress on the same play.

Florio labeled the rookie's rep "half a******," suggesting he was merely going through the motions instead of treating the drill seriously. That raises a deeper concern for Browns fans. Sanders' judgment in the pocket was a talking point last season. He threw 10 interceptions in just eight games. If these drills are not fully ingrained, Watson could take the starting job.

And while coach Monken has said he has made improvements to the decision-making in the pocket, he may need to put in a greater amount of effort, especially since Deshaun Watson is a veteran QB who's played in multiple offensive schemes.

Florio said the young quarterback is a playmaker, but he has yet to develop that level of smoothness. Head coach Todd Monken, however, appears to be doing his best to help him get there.

“Shedeur is a gamer. He performs when it counts. He has yet to embrace the process of checking various boxes in practice. And, in my opinion, new Browns coach Todd Monken is trying his d******* to get Shedeur to do that,” wrote Florio on Pro Football Talk on July 15.

While Florio believes Sanders still needs to work harder, another analyst has argued that the rookie has already bridged the gap.

Shedeur Sanders receives a major vote of confidence from Browns insider

During the OTAs and minicamps, Deshaun Watson was marginally better than Shedeur Sanders.

However, the young quarterback has acknowledged that gap, and according to Browns insider Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com, Sanders has made the necessary adjustments and narrowed the gap between himself and Watson.

“I thought it was very significant that when we showed up for the very first day of mandatory minicamp, the player taking most of the first-team reps on that day, on the first day of mandatory minicamp, was Shedeur Sanders. I just thought that was significant,” Cabot said.

Cabot's comments are significant because even she initially was of the opinion that Watson should be the starting QB for the Browns. However, somewhere along the way, Sanders is starting to show his new coaches and the analysts that he is not that far behind Watson.

With training camp approaching, the quarterback competition remains wide open. But for now, who do you think has the edge: Sanders or Watson?

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Written by

Suryakant Das

Edited by

Siddharth Shirwadkar