3 ways Browns QB Shedeur Sanders can show growth vs. Saints - ESPN

Before Cleveland Browns coach Todd Monken announced on Aug. 24 that he was naming Deshaun Watson the team's starting quarterback over Shedeur Sanders, he spoke with Sanders in his office about his forward-looking approach.

Ten weeks later, Sanders is poised to make his first start of the 2026 NFL season Sunday at the New Orleans Saints (1 p.m. ET, CBS) as Watson remains sidelined in the NFL's concussion protocol.

«He's very diligent and he likes to play football, has a natural confidence about him,» Monken said Friday. «Just like any young player, they've got to play.… Where he's improved is his footwork, his drops, his mechanics, understanding where to go with the ball, sense of urgency in terms of working through his progressions, protections. There were so many things he needed to work on, and he's done that like any young player. Any young player has a lot to work on, especially at the quarterback position.

»And you can see that from the moment we got here and that's why we opened up the competition and we split the reps was because of his ascent."

Sanders' first start of the season comes at a critical time. The Browns are 5-3 after a Week 8 road loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers that knocked Cleveland out of first place in the AFC North. ESPN Analytics gives the Browns a 16.5% chance of making the playoffs. A win against the Saints would increase their odds to 25.4% ahead of four straight home games.

Sanders made seven starts as a rookie last season and went 3-4 in those games, but he posted a 19.0 Total QBR, the fifth-lowest mark among 696 quarterbacks with at least 200 pass attempts in a season in the QBR era (since 2006). He has spent the first eight weeks of the regular season as the backup, getting minimal