School’s out.
When summer recess ends in late July and the Browns return to work for Todd Monken’s first training camp, his No. 1 quarterback will be …
Deshaun Watson.
Or Shedeur Sanders.
Monken won’t decide until he sees the two perform “when the pads come on” and coordinator Mike Rutenberg’s defensive linemen can mount more of a realistic pass rush than in the spring football period just concluded.
In the spring season, which was voluntary except for the mandatory minicamp, Monken conducted 15 practices total – three in a voluntary veteran minicamp, nine OTAs in Phase 3 of the voluntary program, and three in mandatory minicamp. Media were present for seven of the 15 total practices.
In those seven practices witnessed by media, the ESPN Cleveland Quarterback Tracker tabulated all pass attempts in competitive 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 practice periods. Sanders and Watson alternated reps with the projected first-team offense on almost a daily basis. Overall, they received a comparable number of total practice reps, which includes run and pass plays.
In the passing game, Sanders completed 79 of 113 pass attempts for 69.9%, and Watson was 90 of 133 for 67.6%.
But the figures are skewed by the fact that Monken allowed plays to continue as the quarterbacks held on to the ball inordinately longer than if a pass rush existed.
That’s why he needs to continue the competition against a more realistic pass rush before making a decision on his QB1.
“A hundred percent,” Monken said. “It’s hard to say whether it would have been a little legit pressure [or] wouldn’t have been. Would he have had all that time? I don’t know.
“There’s still a lot to see – [from the] quarterbacks and the O-line, especially once we put the pads on.”
Because of CBA restrictions, players have a five-day build-up to their first practice in pads. So that takes Monken into the second week of training camp before he sees who’s able to process and deliver the ball quicker in the face of a pass rush.
Quarterbacks coach Mike Bajakian said, “The beauty of what training camp will give you that OTAs and minicamp hasn’t given you is more live bullets. It’s a little bit easier to make a faster evaluation when you have defensive linemen coming at you full speed, when you really have to react to the full-speed aspect of the game.
“I would think [the leader of the QB competition] should declare itself pretty quickly.”
The actual opening-week starter then would be determined by continual performance in practice, highlighted by two joint practices with the Buffalo Bills in the middle of camp, and three preseason games.
Historically, starters don’t see action in the game following competitive joint practices, so it’s likely Watson and Sanders will play in only the first preseason game (against the Chicago Bears) and the third (New England Patriots).
Monken disputed that the failure of Watson or Sanders to emerge as a clear-cut leader in the spring season is a negative.
“I don’t see it that way,” he said. “It would be if I didn’t think either one of them were capable of starting. It would feel different if I didn’t feel like their progression hadn’t gotten to this point, where I think they both can start and play winning football.
“I’m convinced of it. And I’d say it if I didn’t. I mean, I can’t decide now because I think both have earned the opportunity to continue to compete once we put the pads on.”
The extra dimension
Whomever he chooses as his starting quarterback, it’s becoming obvious that Monken’s offense will include selective design runs for the QB.
In the final minicamp practice, both quarterbacks executed a fair number of RPOs (run-pass options) and read-option plays.
In assessing Watson’s progress during the spring season, Monken made a point of saying, “I think he plays with his feet. So that’s going to be a huge weapon for him. It has been in his career and as long as he’s healthy it will continue to be a weapon for him.”
Watson’s documented athletic ability would seem to give him an edge over Sanders. Bajakian asserted, “Deshaun looks great physically. What I’m seeing is a high, high-level athlete on the field over the course of the last 12 practices. Athletically, he looks great.”
But Bajakian said Sanders shouldn’t be sold short on his athleticism.
“As you look at Shedeur, the off-schedule plays that he made last year, maybe his measurables in the Combine and coming out of pro day, maybe they’re not quite what elite athletes are considered. But I’ll tell you what, if you just go back to the video of last year, and even his college video, you see an athlete that plays a lot faster than maybe the measurables indicate. And that is the case with him,” Bajakian said.
Brownie bits
The spring season ended without rookie receiver Denzel Boston dropping a pass in open-media sessions. Receivers coach Christian Jones said, “He has done a good job. He had one day he came out and was a little off. But he’s done a real good job with catching the ball, [and] finishing it. Talk about where they put the ball, he’s not afraid to go get it.” To me, Boston was the most impressive rookie in spring season in another good Browns rookie class …
Receiver Jerry Jeudy did not participate in team drills. I asked if Jeudy was given the day off, Monken scoffed at that notion. “No, it’s the hamstring. I usually don’t comment about injuries, but you dragged me into this. His hamstring grabbed him a little bit and he didn’t want to go into the offseason with a hamstring injury.” Monken, who inherits a younger team than Kevin Stefanski ever had, said he will not give veterans days off in training camp. “We might monitor the reps, but they’re going to be dressed. That’s what you do as a team. Everybody’s dressed. Again, we might monitor the reps or medically. I don’t do that, medical decides. Besides that, there are no vet days off.” …
Near the end of the 1 hour, 50-minute final practice, the first-team offensive line of Spencer Fano, Zion Johnson, Elgton Jenkins, Teven Jenkins and Tytus Howard took a slow jog around the practice field. Apparently, it was a voluntary decision and not a disciplinary action by the coaches. Offensive line coach George Warhop said, “That wasn’t on me. I looked up and saw them running. I’m glad they did that themselves, but that wasn’t mandatory. That starts in training camp, not here.” …
QB3 Dillon Gabriel’s reps have been drastically reduced compared to a year ago at this time. On the last day of the spring season, he was able to light the scoreboard with his first TD in an 11-on-11 period in front of media when Gage Larvadain hauled in an over-the-shoulder pass behind a defender and took it to the end zone.