On October 7, 2024, when Deshaun Watson came out of the tunnel for his Week 7 battle, the Dawg Pound booed him. Later in that game, when Watson went down with an Achilles tear and had to be carted off the field, they cheered. Not much has changed since then, except that Watson finally got a chance to redeem himself this offseason. But when he took the field at the Cleveland Browns training camp this Tuesday, the fans booed him again.

Watson has been struggling with accuracy all camp, but he had his most productive outing on Day 7, throwing dimes to KC Concepcion, Denzel Boston, Jerry Jeudy, Isaiah Bond, and Harold Fannin Jr. But one good practice cannot erase four years of disappointment, and it’s not a yardstick to measure the quarterback battle unfolding in Berea – that’s the case Adam “The Bull” Gerstenhaber made in a recent edition of the Ultimate Cleveland Sports Show.

“The truth is this whole quarterback situation is a disgrace,” Adam said. “It’s embarrassing. And the fact that people are [asking] ‘Who won the quarterback battle today?’ they’re both awful. They might not always be awful. I’ve said a million times, I do still think there’s a chance Shedeur Sanders is gonna be something. I don’t know. Deshaun Watson is awful. He’s awful. And nothing is going to change that. I don’t care if he has a good day of practice. It’s practice!

“If a guy’s terrible at practice, that has some meaning to me. If a guy plays well in practice, that means nothing. It’s practice! He’s not getting hit. So the fact that… some people got excited that he had a good day of practice – every day should be a good day of practice.”

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Per ESPN Cleveland’s QB Tracker, Sanders has completed 115 of 164 passes for nine touchdowns and three interceptions through eight camp days. Deshaun Watson, in the meantime, has gone 104-of-162, throwing 10 touchdowns and 7 interceptions. While he did a great outing on Day 7, Adam Gerstenhaber’s verdict lands on Watson’s continued struggles even when the quarterbacks aren’t taking hits at practice.

Head Coach Todd Monken has noted that both Watson and Sanders will get a preseason start each to be able to determine who should be his starting quarterback come September. The installs are done and dusted at Berea, and the real quarterback evaluation begins now. In that regard, CBS’s Aditi Kinkhabwala has seen massive improvements in Shedeur.

“So Shedeur, he looked great,” Kinkhabwala said after Thursday’s practice. “There is very obviously growth from a year ago. He looks more comfortable; he’s getting rid of the ball faster. The operation looks very clean in terms of managing the huddle and getting the play to the huddle and then getting the play run.”

While this gives Sanders an edge over Watson, the real test will happen when the quarterbacks suit up against the Chicago Bears and the Buffalo Bills in their first two preseason matchups. Beyond that, the QB1 picture will start getting clearer at last. But for now, this is Deshaun Watson’s job to lose, and the voices around Cleveland are reminding him of that every single day.