The Cleveland Browns have made a preseason quarterback decision.

Browns head coach Todd Monken has named former Clemson star Deshaun Watson as the starting quarterback for their preseason opener against the Chicago Bears this Saturday.

Monken announced the decision following Wednesday’s training camp practice, noting that Watson is slated to play the first half.

Watson is competing with second-year pro Shedeur Sanders for Cleveland’s starting QB job, and Monken outlined a structured plan to evaluate both players during the first two weeks of the preseason.

In the first preseason game, Watson will start and play the first half, and Sanders will enter the game to start the third quarter. In the second preseason game on Aug. 22 vs. the Buffalo Bills, the rotation order will flip, with Sanders getting the start and Watson coming in to start the second half.

Saturday’s preseason contest in Chicago will mark Watson’s first live game action since he suffered a season-ending Achilles tendon tear during Cleveland’s Week 7 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals on Oct. 20, 2024. Less than three months after his initial tear, Watson tore his Achilles for the second time and underwent a second surgery in January 2025 to repair it, forcing him to miss the entire 2025 season.

“I’m super excited,” Watson said before Wednesday’s practice, via the Browns’ official website. “All the hard work that I put in with the training staff, with my team, my personal team, to get to this stage has been tremendous for me. So, I’m super excited for those opportunities and can’t wait for it.”

Watson and Sanders have been alternating first-team reps throughout training camp, and Monken said that the starting job remains an open competition and a regular-season Week 1 starter has not yet been named.

“I have my reasons for how it’s going to go, and it’s still a competition,” Monken said. “We’re excited to watch guys practice today, let alone on Saturday, and then next week against Buffalo, and we’ll get a chance to see them both. Every week we’ll assess it. It’ll be a little bit more difficult with the player that doesn’t play as much this week or the other quarterbacks, right? We’ll be able to assess the quarterback that started and how he played and when the other quarterbacks came in and then the opposite will be next week against Buffalo.”

Watson is entering the final year of his deal in 2026. In March 2022, he signed a fully guaranteed five-year, $230 million contract with the Browns after being traded from the Houston Texans, who gave away a bunch of draft picks (including three first-round picks) in the deal.

Facing adversity in recent seasons, both on and off the field, Watson played in just six games in his first season with Cleveland in 2022 after having to serve a suspension and then was limited to just six games in 2023, seven in 2024 and zero in 2025 due to season-ending injuries.

In the limited action over his time in Cleveland thus far, Watson has completed 61.2 percent of his passes for 3,365 yards and 19 touchdowns with 12 interceptions.

A three-time Pro Bowler during his time with the Texans, Watson has a 66.2 completion percentage for his career with 17,904 passing yards and 123 passing touchdowns with 48 interceptions in 73 career games with the Texans and Browns since being selected by Houston in the first round (12th overall) of the 2017 NFL Draft.

Monken, who most recently served as the Baltimore Ravens’ offensive coordinator before being hired as Cleveland’s new head coach in January, isn’t ruling out the possibility that Watson can return to previous form and be the type of Pro Bowl QB he was in Houston.

“I would never put limitations on a player,” Monken said, via Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com. “I’d hate that he would do that. Why can’t he be? Why can’t he play like that? I don’t know. I haven’t seen it yet. I’m not gonna say he can’t until I see it, right. Until we see it, right.

“I’ve seen a lot of really good things over the course of the four or five months I’ve been here. I’m not gonna put that on him. If he thinks he can’t play like that, that’s on him. I think he’s done a lot of really good things athletically, making plays that we’re going to get a chance to see, because we’re not live. We’ll see if that comes to play when we get out there and go.”