The Opening Drive 5/19: The Browns Begin OTA's - Quarterback Battle Just Ramping Up
The Browns kick off OTAs today in Berea with news of Deshaun Watson's early impressions on the new coaching staff swirling.
The Cleveland Browns have officially completed the first two phases of their offseason program and are now preparing to enter Phase Three today. Cleveland’s offseason work up to this point has included strength and conditioning, meetings, walkthroughs, a three-day voluntary veteran minicamp held just before the NFL Draft, and their rookie minicamp during Phase Two following the draft.
Now, the Browns will shift into the next stage of the offseason program as teams are permitted to begin Organized Team Activities (OTAs). Phase Three spans the next four weeks and allows teams to hold up to 10 OTA practices. While live contact remains prohibited under league rules, teams may conduct 7-on-7, 9-on-7, and full 11-on-11 drills.
For the Browns, these practices will provide some of the first extended looks at Todd Monken’s systems on both sides of the football while also giving the coaching staff opportunities to evaluate position battles, rookie development, and roster fits ahead of training camp.
Browns’ OTA Dates:
May 19-21
May 26-28
June 2-5
The offseason program will conclude with mandatory minicamp from June 9-11, before the team breaks for training camp later this summer in Berea.
Monken has been outspoken about wanting an idea of his depth chart heading into training camp, and most importantly, he wants to know who will be his starting quarterback when the team returns in July. This puts pressure on the quarterbacks starting Tuesday, as the rookie class joins the veterans. The 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 sessions will be critical in Monken’s evaluation of who earns the lion’s share of quarterback one reps in July.
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Mary Kay Cabot’s initial report following the Browns’ three-day voluntary minicamp felt a bit premature at the time. After only a handful of spring practices with no real pads, no live contact, and limited competitive settings, it was difficult to put too much stock into the idea that Deshaun Watson already held any meaningful edge in the quarterback competition.
That is simply too small a sample size to draw major conclusions from, especially during a portion of the offseason that is often more about installation, timing, and learning terminology than true quarterback evaluation.
But Jeremy Fowler’s recent reporting does change the conversation somewhat.
When a second well-connected national reporter echoes similar ideas about Watson’s standing internally and his early relationship with Todd Monken, it naturally adds more credibility to the possibility that the Browns may genuinely view Watson as the frontrunner entering the summer.
And honestly, that forces everyone to start taking the idea of Watson opening the season as the starter far more seriously. Fowler’s report was less about Watson dominating practices and more about the belief inside the building that Monken’s offense could finally provide a structure that better suits Watson’s strengths.
According to ESPN’s Fowler, sources indicate that Monken and Watson have established a strong relationship in their limited time together, with Watson reportedly meshing well with Monken’s offensive scheme.
“I’m told he’s hit it off with Todd Monken, who’s got an offensive concept, some elements that Watson has run in the past and been his best at,” Fowler said on SportsCenter.
His offense is built around quarterback play. Spacing, tempo, vertical concepts, and defined reads have consistently been core elements of Monken’s system, and in theory, those concepts could fit with Watson better than what Cleveland previously asked him to operate within.
The Browns clearly believe there is at least a possibility Monken can unlock something that has not existed consistently since Watson arrived in Cleveland.
Whether that belief is realistic is another discussion entirely.
While these reports are worth noting, they do not erase the reality of what Watson has looked like over the last several years. Injuries, inconsistency, rust, and declining play have all been part of the story. At some point, offseason optimism has to translate into actual production on Sundays, which is hard to imagine after the way he played the last time we saw him, which is the bigger organizational question still looming over the whole Watson narrative.
Even if Watson currently holds an internal early edge, is it truly in the Browns’ long-term best interest to continue revisiting this experiment? Or would the organization ultimately benefit more from finding out exactly what they have in Shedeur Sanders?
That is the balancing act Cleveland is now facing.
Fowler’s report may have added legitimacy to the idea of Watson opening the year as the starter, but it also raises the stakes dramatically if the Browns choose to continue down that path.
Sanders, who took his lumps as a rookie, feels like the more sensible solution in a season that should be about gaining some clarity on what he is or can be as an NFL quarterback, so that the Browns can approach the 2027 offseason with the appropriate aggression towards positioning themselves to draft their quarterback of the future and drop him into an improved offensive situation.
However, the one thing we do know is that Monken will prioritize winning at all costs, and if that means Watson under center, then that’s what Monken will do.
The next month of OTAs and mandatory minicamp will go a long way toward determining who gets the majority of reps when they reconvene for training camp.
Browns Film Breakdown will return with more All-22 film this week.
While I would prefer to see the young guys grow and develop, it’s also reasonable that if they can’t beat out a twice-torn Achilles Watson, they’re unlikely to be the answer in ‘27