Cleveland.com's Mary Kay Cabot reports that QB Deshaun Watson appears to be moving toward being named the Browns' starter for the coming season.
Cabot: "Deshaun Watson emerged from the Browns voluntary minicamp last week with an edge over Shedeur Sanders in the two-man quarterback competition — and has the inside track to be named the Browns QB1, sources tell cleveland.com. [HC] Todd Monken hopes to declare — or at least identify — his starter by the end of Browns minicamp June 9-11."
Cabot added that Sanders has "plenty of ground to make up and will have to dazzle the coaching staff" to overtake Watson.
More from Cabot: "Monken’s offense features some of the same spread and other passing concepts that Watson excelled in with the Texans, and he’s adapting quickly."
This follows owner Jimmy Haslam's late-March sentiment that Watson was set up well for a rebound.
It makes sense. None of us is actually rooting for Watson at this point, but the former first-round pick has always carried more talent than Sanders. And he also still carries the third-most guaranteed money ever handed to an NFL player.
No doubt Sanders would need to clearly outplay Watson to take this job, and it doesn't sound like that's close to happening.
Probably not a whole lot.
Houston Deshaun Watson was terrific for our lineups. Cleveland Watson, however, has so far averaged about 8.7 fewer fantasy points per game than his worst average among four years with the Texans.
So even as an undisputed starter, Watson would belong very late in drafts where QB25+ types even make sense.
Watson does present some upside as a very late pick in superflex best ball formats. His price figures to climb some there, as Sanders has been preceding him off the board.
Even if he's officially named the starter, Watson would still carry big-time, long-term risk. He's likely close to free on the dynasty trade market right now, which makes him an OK pickup for superflex formats. Just don't get too excited, especially on the verge of his age-31 campaign.
Watson over Sanders would probably count as a slight win for Cleveland pass catchers. But just like with Watson's fantasy outlook, neither QB makes this an exciting situation.
There's decent upside to first-round rookie KC Concepcion if he remains around his current WR49 best ball ADP.
That's almost exactly where he sits in our half-PPR rankings at the moment.
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