The Cleveland Browns made it through the NFL trade deadline without moving a quarterback. Four quarterbacks remain on the active 53-man roster heading into Week 10, when Cleveland hosts the Houston Texans before its Week 11 bye. Shedeur Sanders started against the New Orleans Saints, and that put the quarterback picture back in the spotlight.

The Browns are handing the starting job back to Deshaun Watson. Watson cleared concussion protocol before Week 9, but Cleveland held him out as inactive against the Saints and gave Sanders the start instead.

Shedeur Sanders’ Week 9 start was a mixed bag

Sanders didn’t have a great game against New Orleans, but he didn’t have a bad one either. He completed 19-of-31 passes for 297 yards and two touchdown passes. He was also sacked five times, and several of those sacks were on the quarterback.

That performance gave the Browns something to think about, especially given how the offense has looked overall with explosive plays, even if they weren’t necessarily because of Sanders. 

Browns coach Todd Monken was asked this week if he considered a quarterback change to Sanders from Watson.

“Everything, you’re considering, but ultimately Deshaun’s done a really good job for us,” Monken said. “You know, 5-3 as a starter. He’s worked awfully hard to get back. I mean, there’s a high belief in that, and that’s nothing to take away from Shedeur, because I thought for 10 weeks of really not taking any reps, I thought he did a really good job. And there’s a lot of room for improvement with both of them. Everything we consider, anything that’s going to help us be better as a team, coaching wise, schematic wise, and then personnel wise, you’re always looking to upgrade your ability to move the ball, score points, stop the opponent, all of those things. But the intention was for Deshaun to start.”

So there you have it. Monken admitted he at least considered Sanders as the starter after the Week 9 performance. Still, it’ll be Watson going up against his former team when the Texans come to Cleveland in Week 10.

The Week 11 bye could open the door for Sanders

With the bye week coming right after the Houston game, you can’t rule anything out. The offense has struggled for three quarters of games before finally getting going in the fourth quarter for most of the season. If that pattern continues against the Texans, the Browns could pull the plug on Watson after the first 10 games of the season.

That would give Sanders the keys to the offense with ample time to show what he can do in Monken’s system. Cleveland has a quarterback decision to make for next season, and extended reps for Sanders is coming this year to help make the decision.

It was always likely that multiple quarterbacks would play this season for the Browns. Even with Watson getting the offense back, that still looks like the track Cleveland is on.

Watson has passed for 1,806 yards with seven touchdown passes and three interceptions. He’s averaging 225 passing yards per game and has added 217 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown.

However, the Browns offense as a whole has been a poor unit. Cleveland ranks 24th in the NFL in total yards per game at 331.2. Scoring-wise, the Browns are 29th in the league at 17.9 points per game. 

For Sanders fans, it’s tough news that he isn’t the starter against Houston, but that was always going to be the case. The Browns weren’t going to move on from Watson because of an injury situation. Watson gets at least one more game to show what he can do, and the Texans matchup will be telling for what comes after the bye.