Shedeur Sanders Gets the Start in New Orleans

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2026

The question hanging over Cleveland all week got its answer on Friday, and it was the answer the practice reps had been pointing to since Wednesday. Head coach Todd Monken confirmed that Shedeur Sanders will start at quarterback for the Browns on Sunday at the New Orleans Saints, with Deshaun Watson still in the NFL’s concussion protocol. It is Sanders’ first start of the season.

Watson was back on the practice field Friday, which is what made the announcement a decision instead of a formality. He took part in individual drills only, did no team reps all week, and remains listed as questionable. Monken has not decided whether Watson will even dress as the backup in New Orleans — a call that waits on whether Watson clears the protocol on Saturday. Dillon Gabriel, back from injured reserve last week, is the other option behind Sanders.

“An easy decision”

Monken said Watson’s empty week of team work settled it: a starter who could not practice with the team was not going to start. What he saw from Sanders in the job all week sold the rest. “I liked his confidence and the way he operated. He looked very comfortable in terms of getting our guys in and out of the huddle and I thought he threw the ball extremely well,” Monken said. Asked about watching Sanders play Sunday, he was shorter: “I’m fired up to see him play. I mean, who wouldn’t be?”

The week turned on Sunday’s game in Pittsburgh. Watson took a helmet-to-helmet hit from Steelers safety Jaquan Brisker in the first quarter of the 27–6 loss, came out for four plays — Sanders completed both of his passes, for two yards — then returned after being cleared during the game. On Monday night Watson began feeling symptoms, and by Tuesday morning he had reported them and entered the protocol. Sanders took every starting rep from there.

Not his first time walking through this door

Sanders has done this exact job for this exact team before. Watson’s season-ending Achilles surgery put the then-rookie into the lineup for the final seven games of last season, and he went 3–4 with seven touchdown passes and 10 interceptions. This year he lost the summer competition to Watson and has barely played since — three pass attempts all season, two of them last Sunday. His own read on stepping back in: “It was valuable, just tapping back into that memory bank, having those reps and everything. That’s why I’m thankful for this whole offseason and everything and just being out there with the guys each and every day, being able to still get some throws in with them. So I don’t think we lost a step.”

The other sideline passed on him

One layer of Sunday has nothing to do with the protocol. Across from Sanders will be Tyler Shough, the quarterback the Saints chose in April’s draft — with the 40th overall pick, in the second round, after passing on Sanders. Cleveland ended the slide the next day, trading up in the fifth round to take him. Sunday is a meeting of the 2025 quarterback class on very different receipts: Shough the early pick holding the job in New Orleans, Sanders the fifth-rounder getting his second chance to take one. The Saints’ defense he faces ranks 28th in the league overall and 23rd against the pass, and New Orleans defensive coordinator Brandon Staley was not selling the moment short this week: “You’re seeing a player that has experience.”

The stakes around the quarterback are real on both sides. Cleveland is 5–3, third in the AFC North, and trying to avoid consecutive losses for the first time all season. The Saints are 2–5 and coming off their bye. Browns defensive tackle Maliek Collins, second on the team with 3½ sacks, is out with an elbow injury. Kickoff is 1 p.m. ET at the Caesars Superdome. Previously’s full Week 9 picture — the Madrid opener, Monday night in Minneapolis and the rest of the quarterback weekend — is in the weekend preview, and the game runs live in the Sports Game Center on Sunday.