Todd Monken just called Deshaun Watson’s first half of preseason football “awesome,” and if that sentence doesn’t make half of Cleveland want to throw a remote through the wall, you haven’t been paying attention for three years.
I watched the clips. I read the quotes. Watson goes 11 of 15 for 126 yards, leads the only two scoring drives in a 34-10 beatdown by the Bears, takes a strip-sack on fourth-and-2, and the first-year head coach comes out glowing like he just watched peak 2019 Houston. Not “solid.” Not “encouraging.” Awesome.
Go ahead. Type it. I already know the comments. Preseason. Against backups. One half. Doesn’t mean anything. Cool. Tell that to the guy holding the clipboard and the keys.
Monken Isn’t Managing A Competition. He’s Selling A Reunion
“It was awesome,” Monken said. “It was so cool to watch him play. I get all of the frustration by fans, himself. But for him to come back and work like he did is an unbelievable credit to him. And then to go out there, he was having fun today. And that is so cool. And I thought he really functioned at a high level.”
That is not coach-speak for “we’ll evaluate everyone fairly.” That is a man who just got the emotional hit he needed from his quarterback and is already writing the narrative. He even hit the “100%” button when asked if Watson can still be a quality NFL starter. No hedge. No “we’ll see after the Bills joint practices.” Just pure, unfiltered belief.
I get the operational caveats. Timeouts. Delay of game. The late-half stuff looked sloppy. Monken himself said they can’t live like that. Fine. But the tone drowned the footnotes. He watched Watson complete his first four throws, march an 86-yard touchdown drive capped by KC Concepcion’s 14-yard run, and decided the vibe check mattered more than the final scoreboard.
Watson felt it too. “I don’t think [there is] anything that I doubt in myself,” he said. “That’s the reason why I worked hard these last two years to get back to that.” No apology tour. No soft landing. Just a guy who tore his Achilles in October 2024, missed all of 2025 after a second surgery, and still talks like the franchise is lucky he showed up.
That confidence used to be magnetic. Now it lands like a dare.
Shedeur Got The Participation Trophy Treatment
Sanders comes in for the second half, goes 6 of 11 for 79 yards with an interception, and the whole operation suddenly feels colder. He owns the pick. “Obviously, turning the ball over and all that stuff is not great, and it won’t survive a long time in the league doing that,” Sanders said. Then he pivots to gratitude for still breathing. That’s survival mode, not starter energy.
Monken grouped them. Both had turnovers. He was “really pleased with our quarterback play.” Nice try. One guy got the “awesome / so cool / having fun / high level” package. The other got the “we’re going to be able to throw the football” group text. Dillon Gabriel finished the mess with his own pick and nobody pretended otherwise.
The plan is still theater for another week. Sanders starts against the Bills. Watson plays the third quarter. They split first-team reps in joint practice. Monken says he’s “not ready to say it yet” on a starter. I am. When your head coach uses the word awesome about one and managerial about the other after the same ugly loss, the competition already has a favorite.
Browns fans who drafted Sanders as the moral and football reboot are about to learn what open competitions look like when the building still has money, history, and hope invested in the other guy. Watson has been limited to 19 games since the trade because of suspension and injuries. That should be disqualifying. Instead it’s being framed as resilience. Monken is buying it in public.
This Is The Exact Energy That Keeps Cleveland Stuck
I am not saying Watson looked like a finished product. The last chunk of his half produced almost nothing. The pocket presence still has rust. Preseason against Chicago is not proof of life for a Super Bowl window. But the overreaction in the other direction is worse. Treating competent half-of-football like a religious experience is how this franchise keeps chaining itself to the same ghosts.
Watson wants you to believe the doubt is dead. Monken wants you to feel the fun again. The rest of the roster just got told the hierarchy still runs through the guy with the massive contract and the longest injury report in the building. The regular season opens at Jacksonville in September. By then the “we’ll decide after Buffalo” line will either become a formality or a civil war.
I’m not buying the redemption trailer off one half and a coach who sounds relieved. Cleveland has spent years waiting for Watson to be the version Monken just described. Calling it awesome this early doesn’t make it true. It just makes the crash louder if it isn’t.
So tell me, Browns fans: are you ready to get back on the Watson ride because the new coach used the right adjectives, or are you finally done letting hope override the tape?
