The Cleveland Browns‘ entire offseason has been about the QB1 battle between Deshaun Watson and Shedeur Sanders. While Watson is a veteran, Sanders is entering his second NFL season. Yet, HC Todd Monken seems to be taking his time to finalize the Browns’ franchise quarterback for the 2026 season. While the Browns HC takes his time, former Cleveland linebacker Emmanuel Acho is out here proposing a strategy to his former team.

“I think you start Deshaun and give him the opportunity to play bad,” Acho said on the Speakeasy Podcast. “And then if he plays bad, you move on to Shedeur and Shedeur, please ball… To me, I’m thinking about Shedeur by starting Deshaun. I’m not even thinking about Deshaun. I’m thinking about it like this. If we start Shedeur, there is no benching him. Let Deshaun go out there and let him go struggle. Deshaun to me is a guinea pig, respectfully. He’s made $230 million. He’s probably not the future of the franchise. So, respectfully, Deshaun is a guinea pig.

“Like, I’m going to use Deshaun to assess the situation. What does our roster look like?… I need to see how good our offense is. So, if Shedeur does go out there and ball or if he goes out there and struggles, we know it wasn’t just Shedeur.”

Deshaun Watson has nine seasons of experience in the league with 17,904 passing yards and 123 touchdowns in 73 regular-season games. But after signing with the Browns, Watson didn’t see much playing time.

Meanwhile, Sanders has appeared in only eight games so far, throwing for 1,400 yards and seven TDs. Shedeur Sanders was thrust into action in Week 11 after fellow rookie Dillon Gabriel suffered a concussion. And even though he racked up the most passing yards for any Browns QB last season, Sanders also got sacked the most number of times (23).

So, to keep the 24-year-old QB away from the immediate pressure of leading the Browns offense, Emmanuel Acho wants the team to start with Deshaun Watson. Whereas Cleveland’s offense is another reason. In the 2025 season, the unit surrendered an NFL-worst 45.5% quarterback pressure rate.

Heading into the 2026 season, they revamped the unit with veteran additions like Elgton Jenkins, Zion Johnson, and Tytus Howard. Under new HC Todd Monken, they might still be adjusting to changes in strategies. Acho believes it would be best for the franchise to start with Deshaun Watson, evaluate the new offensive unit, and then start Shedeur Sanders.