​Shedeur Sanders did not win Cleveland’s quarterback competition over Deshaun Watson and will open the season as the Browns’ backup.But odds are, Sanders will see the field sooner rather than later in 2026.Head coach Todd Monken has praised Sanders throughout the offseason and training camp for his progress. Monken said in his Tuesday press conference that while he doesn’t know that Sanders will be better prepared for success with some more time behind the scenes, Sanders has shown plenty of positives.“Every player is a little bit different,” Monken said, via transcript from the team. “You see quarterbacks go in there and right away play well, and you’ve seen others that need some time, and that’s at every position. Some, it happens quicker than others, some have further to go. I know this, from the jump in the offseason, when he showed some things that I really liked, the way he’s wired — that’s when we made the decision to give him more reps. That’s when we decided to make it a competition for Shedeur, and for us. That was the point of it all, to get where he’s at today. Because early on, in my opinion, it was pretty obvious that Deshaun was ahead, his experience, right? He should be, there’s no difference there. We made that decision, and where he’s at today is a byproduct of that.“I’m excited about the long game for him. There are certain things he has to continue to work on, and he’s going to continue to grow leaps and bounds because he’s a sponge — takes it all in, he really does. So, I just think it’s a matter of time before we get a chance to see that.”Sanders is not slated to play in Thursday’s preseason finale against the Patriots, with Dillon Gabriel and Taylen Green handling the quarterback duties. Monken said he made that decision because Gabriel and Green’s reps have been so limited during training camp in part due to the competition between Watson and Sanders.But with the fanbase’s adversarial relationship with Watson, and Watson’s penchant for poor performance, it stands to reason that Sanders could see the field as QB1 as soon as Week 3, when the Browns play the Panthers for their home opener.