Moving into the 2026 season, the Cleveland Browns are yet to have clarity on who their primary signal-caller will be. While Deshaun Watson seemed to have taken a lead so far, on Monday, August 10, both he and Shedeur Sanders struggled, which led to Todd Monken’s emotional outburst during Day 11 of training camp. 

“End of #Browns practice.  One minute end of half situation. Sanders up first and the drive ends with three straight false starts on the line.  Watson next and after two completions, a sack, an illegal formation and a false start. Monken ended practice and looked like he threw something,” reported Cleveland.com reporter Ashley Bastock on August 10.

As reported by The Gazette, Monken ended practice throwing his radio in frustration.

On Monday, Sanders connected with Jerry Jeudy and the offensive line appeared to commit two straight false starts. It led Monken to send the unit off the field before the session ended. Rookie left tackle Spencer Fano’s penalty proved to be the breaking point.

With his patience already running thin, the head coach might have hoped to see better things with Watson hitting the gridiron. But the woes continued as the veteran quarterback and the second team struggled equally. 

Watson completed consecutive passes to Tylan Wallace, but the possession was then derailed by an apparent illegal formation and another false start. Monken’s outburst came after the head coach made a last-minute decision to make Watson take all the reps with the first-team offense in Saturday’s practice, when it was Sanders’ turn. Naturally, the decision had put Monken on the hot seat. 

“I’m just trying to figure out why you want to see him (Watson) in personnel groupings when it’s my day? When it’s his day, now you can see,” criticized co-host Shannon Sharpe on the August 10 episode of the Nightcap podcast. 

While Monday was a chance for Watson to make Monken proud, he failed to do so. The tension of the Day 11 training camp spilled over during the post-training presser. During the interview, Jeff Schudel asked the head coach to clarify whether his last-minute decision was about him believing Watson was better than Shedeur.

“Oh I don’t think I said he’s better than Shedeur. I’m not sure I went that far, but I appreciate you trying to trap me in that s***,” Monken said.

During the same presser, he clarified that the competition is “close” and added that the quarterback who is held out of the preseason opener will start the team’s next home game.