Former NFL defensive tackle Mike Golic said Thursday he does not understand Cleveland Browns head coach Todd Monken’s decision to start Deshaun Watson over Shedeur Sanders, and that Browns players likely want to see what Sanders can do.
Golic, who grew up in Willowick, Ohio, and played at St. Joseph High School in Cleveland, made the comments on 92.3 The Fan’s “Afternoon Drive” with Nick Wilson and Jonathan Peterlin.
He put the call on Monken.
“Quite honestly, I’m not sure about the decision Todd Monken made,” Golic said. “Between injury and not playing anywhere near the way he played when he was with Houston, I don’t understand why he’s on the field. I don’t understand what the upside is. You can’t tell me that he played that much better than Shedeur Sanders to not get a look at Shedeur Sanders.”
Golic spent eight seasons in NFL locker rooms with the Houston Oilers, Philadelphia Eagles and Miami Dolphins. His read is that players already know Watson is not the long-term answer.
“You’d obviously have to ask them, and I am sure reporters will do that, in a way,” Golic said. “I’m sure the players are thinking, ‘This guy is not going to be our quarterback. He is not going to be the quarterback of the future. If there is a possibility of the quarterback of the future on this team, it is Shedeur Sanders, and we’re not even sure about that. But let’s see what he can do.'”
Watson’s first start in nearly two years went badly. The Jacksonville Jaguars beat Cleveland 34-10 on Sunday.
Foyesade Oluokun intercepted Watson on the Browns’ opening drive. Jacksonville led 24-0 at halftime and 34-3 before Cleveland scored its only touchdown with 1:52 left.
Watson completed 16 of 22 passes for 205 yards with a touchdown and an interception. The Jaguars sacked him five times. Through three quarters, he was 11-of-17 passing for 100 yards.
His comments since then have drawn more attention than the stat line.
At his Wednesday availability, cleveland.com’s Mary Kay Cabot asked Watson whether he needed a big game to build goodwill before the Browns return home. Watson said that talk was for the media, and that the media expects him to throw for 400 yards and five touchdowns every week.
Watson turned 31 on Monday. He last started in Week 7 of the 2024 season, when he tore his right Achilles tendon. He re-ruptured it that offseason and needed a second surgery in January 2025, then missed all of last season.
This is the final year of the five-year, $230 million fully guaranteed contract Cleveland gave him in 2022 after trading three first-round picks to the Houston Texans. Before this season, he had played in 19 games for the Browns.
Sanders, 24, is on the four-year, $4.65 million rookie deal he signed after Cleveland took him in the fifth round in 2025. He started seven games as a rookie, completing 56.6 percent of his passes for 1,400 yards with seven touchdowns and 10 interceptions.
His best game came in Week 14, when he threw for 364 yards and three touchdowns and ran for another score in a 31-29 loss to the Tennessee Titans.
The preseason did not settle the competition. In an Aug. 22 loss to the Buffalo Bills, Sanders completed 9 of 11 passes for 74 yards with a touchdown and an interception in the first half. Watson went 5-of-12 passing for 36 yards and an interception after halftime.
Monken named Watson the starter anyway. He has given no public indication that he plans a change after Week 1.
Should Watson struggle again, Golic’s question will get louder inside Cleveland.
Watson is set to start Sunday when the Browns visit Baker Mayfield and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at 1 p.m. ET.
