Watson, Gabriel and Shedeur set to compete for Browns' starting QB after draft
- The Browns added Arkansas quarterback Taylen Green with the No. 182 pick on April 25, putting four passers into Cleveland’s 2026 offseason competition. - Coach Todd Monken called it an open competition, while Shedeur Sanders ended 2025 with seven starts, 1,400 passing yards, seven touchdowns and 10 interceptions. - Watson is back from an Achilles injury, leaving Cleveland to sort youth, health and upside at quarterback. (clevelandbrowns.com)
Cleveland used a sixth-round pick on Taylen Green and turned its unsettled quarterback room into a four-man competition for 2026. (clevelandbrowns.com) The Browns took Green at No. 182 overall on April 25 after entering the draft with Deshaun Watson, Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders already on the roster. General manager Andrew Berry said Green would be added “to the mix in terms of competition.” (clevelandbrowns.com) Green started 24 of 25 games at Arkansas from 2024-25 after transferring from Boise State, and Berry described him as a quarterback with size, speed and arm strength who still needs polish. (clevelandbrowns.com) Cleveland had already signaled before the draft that no starter had separated. At the National Football League scouting combine on February 25, coach Todd Monken said the job was an “open competition.” (clevelandbrowns.com) Monken said there was not enough recent film “one way or the other” to declare a starter, and the team’s April 2 roster review said a decision on the 2026 starter still had to be made. (clevelandbrowns.com 1) (clevelandbrowns.com 2) Sanders and Gabriel both got game action as rookies in 2025, which is part of why this room looks different from a year ago. Sanders started the final seven games of his rookie season and finished with 1,400 passing yards, seven touchdowns, 10 interceptions and 23 sacks taken. (clevelandbrowns.com) Watson is the veteran variable. The Browns’ own draft and roster coverage says he is returning from the Achilles injury that caused him to miss the 2025 season, while ESPN reported in April that Cleveland expected him to compete for the starting job. (clevelandbrowns.com) (espn.com) Berry had hinted another young quarterback could be added before the draft, saying at the league meeting that any newcomer would be brought in to compete. Green is now that addition, and he joins a room split between two second-year passers and a 30-year-old veteran coming off injury. (espn.com) (clevelandbrowns.com) The rest of the draft showed Cleveland building around that fight at quarterback. The Browns used the No. 9 pick on Utah tackle Spencer Fano as part of a 10-player class that now feeds into offseason practices and, eventually, training camp reps. (clevelandbrowns.com) That leaves the Browns where Monken said they were two months ago: still looking for a starter, only now with Green added to the line. (clevelandbrowns.com 1) (clevelandbrowns.com 2)
