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The situation around Deshaun Watson has already been complicated enough, but the latest comments from the Cleveland Browns added something that not many fans were expecting or hoping for. While it seemed very likely that the Browns would move on from Watson at some point, it doesn't sound like that's a guarantee.

“We’re probably just more focused on performance and best players,” Berry told reporters, per Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com. “Certainly time horizon factors into that, but just with any veteran player, there’s no rule against extending the player’s contract if they perform and they do well. So I wouldn’t necessarily box it into any one approach. It really will be performance-based."

Cabot later added that if he plays well, the Browns could bring him back.

"If Watson wins the quarterback battle and plays well, the Browns could always bring him back for more,” Cabot wrote.

“In fact, when Berry first traded three first-round picks and more in 2022 for Watson, he said he hoped it would be a 10-year proposition and not just the original five.”

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"Browns HC Todd Monken notes that Shedeur Sanders has been in the building a bunch the last few months, working out; Dillon Gabriel, as far as he's aware, has not."

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“Let’s just take the Browns owner at his word, despite the fact that a year ago, Jimmy Haslam thought that Deshaun Watson essentially had played his last down with the Cleveland Browns. … ‘Big swing and a miss’ is what he called it. … And now, a year later, that ‘big swing and a miss’ is stepping back into the batter’s box and getting another crack at the Browns’ starting quarterback job. And when the owner says there’s a great chance, I believe that,” Schefter said on his podcast.

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PHOENIX – As the Browns prepare for a quarterback competition heading into the 2026 season, head coach Todd Monken plans to utilize the on-field reps to create a fair and open competition.

But Monken said he does not expect those reps to be divided evenly among the quarterbacks in the room. The number of reps can change daily for each quarterback as the offseason and training camp continues.

"I think there's always competition irrespective of the number of reps a player gets," Monken said at the AFC coaches breakfast at the NFL Annual Meeting. "The number of reps a player gets doesn't eliminate competition. It's just in a given day, let's say for instance, you want to see a quarterback with the first group, the second group, the third group. Well, are you going to divide those reps up evenly? Are you going to divide up the reps everywhere evenly? I don't see it that way. That doesn't mean there's not competition. I just see it as in a given day, and it'll be daily in terms of who gets what reps and when, because we certainly want to allocate our reps to the players we feel like are going to give us the best chance to win."

Currently, the Browns quarterback room consists of Dillon Gabriel, Shedeur Sanders and Deshaun Watson. Gabriel appeared in 10 games with six starts during his rookie season, in which he completed 110 of 185 passing attempts for 937 yards and seven touchdowns. Sanders appeared in eight games with seven starts, throwing for 120 of 212 passing attempts for 1,400 yards and seven touchdowns. Watson is returning from a season-ending Achilles injury that he sustained in Week 7 of the 2024 season and later caused him to miss the 2025 season after a re-rupture to his Achilles tendon.

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Dillon Gabriel was once chosen above Shedeur Sanders, drafted two full rounds ahead of him, and that alone made him the crowned jewel of Cleveland’s quarterback room. Now, after the Browns hosted an Alabama quarterback for a Top 30 pre-draft visit, that same player may be on the chopping block under new head coach Todd Monken’s regime. As for what the Browns might get in return, the expectations are modest. Newsweek projects Cleveland would receive a fifth- or sixth-round pick in April’s draft for Gabriel.

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“My dad and Coach Monken go way back. They talk often. He texted him when he got the job and they’ve texted a little bit (since), so if I had the opportunity to play for the Browns, it would be a dream come true,” Simpson said at the combine

LINK

Monken gives up on Gabriel