BEREA, Ohio -- Cleveland Browns coach Todd Monken said Wednesday that despite Shedeur Sanders' two-touchdown performance against the New Orleans Saints last Sunday, his intention all along was to stick with Deshaun Watson as Cleveland's starting quarterback based on his "full body of work" this season.
Watson was inactive for the Browns' Week 9 road game against the Saints, a 23-22 overtime loss, after he missed the week of practice while in the concussion protocol. Sanders started in place of Watson and completed 19 of 31 passes for 297 yards and two touchdown passes.
When Monken was asked Monday about this week's starting quarterback, he said he wasn't ready to announce his decision, as he hadn't met with his offensive staff yet. On Wednesday morning, the team announced that Watson would be QB1 for the Browns' Week 10 home game against the Houston Texans, Watson's former team.
"Everything you're considering, but ultimately Deshaun's done a really good job for us. 5-3 as a starter, and he's worked awfully hard to get back," Monken said. "There's a high belief in that ... the intention was for Deshaun to start. It's just when you come in on that Monday, you haven't really even met as a staff. You've just gone through the film, you've gotten with ownership, and I just wanted to make sure we talked through as a staff, this is the way we're going forward. Great. That's all it was. It was pretty simple."
Watson said Wednesday that he did not have any worries about losing his job as the Browns' starting quarterback.
"No ... there wasn't," Watson said when asked if he had any question in his mind that he would not remain the starter.
Watson was also asked if he was confident that he would remain the starting quarterback for the remainder of the season. "That's up to Monk and the front office," Watson said. "My job is to come in and win the day. So today, whatever it's going to bring, we're going to continue to do that, and that's up to the front office."
Watson led the Browns to a 5-3 record before last Sunday's loss, in large part because of five game-winning drives, but has registered a 40.9 QBR that ranks 28th out of 31 qualifying quarterbacks. Sanders registered a 40.2 QBR against the Saints, his second-highest mark in a game in his career.
Watson played the first four years of his career in Houston, sat out the 2021 season, and was traded to the Browns in March 2022. He has faced the Texans once in his career, when he made his Browns debut in Week 13 of the 2022 season following an 11-game suspension after more than two dozen women accused him of sexual assault and inappropriate conduct during massage sessions.
"It's a big opportunity for us to get back on the winning track, especially when you get in front of our home fans," Watson said. "That's the ultimate focus, is focus on that. All the outside things, going against my former team, that stuff is in the past. Four, five years ago, yeah it was a big deal, but now I think both sides [have] moved on, and we're just both trying to find ways to win and continue to put ourselves in position for later on down the road."