{"id":685027,"date":"2026-06-05T02:14:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T02:14:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/685027\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T02:14:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T02:14:10","slug":"8-nfl-quarterbacks-who-could-be-benched-in-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/685027\/","title":{"rendered":"8 NFL Quarterbacks Who Could Be Benched in 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__body__article__medium css-1vqr2el\">After trading a major package to acquire Deshaun Watson and then signing him to a fully guaranteed <a class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-inherit MuiLink-root MuiLink-underlineAlways MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__ui__link__medium_strong css-lu48cp\" href=\"https:\/\/www.spotrac.com\/nfl\/player\/_\/id\/21753\/deshaun-watson\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">five-year, $230 million<\/a> contract, the Cleveland Browns have gotten almost nothing in return. <\/p>\n<p class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__body__article__medium css-1vqr2el\">Injuries, including a twice-torn Achilles, have limited Watson to just 19 starts. He hasn&#8217;t played well when healthy either, going 9-10 in those games. <\/p>\n<p class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__body__article__medium css-1vqr2el\">However, Cleveland is giving Watson one last opportunity under new head coach Todd Monken. The former Pro Bowler has a commanding lead in the quarterback competition, according to <a class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-inherit MuiLink-root MuiLink-underlineAlways MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__ui__link__medium_strong css-lu48cp\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cleveland.com\/browns\/2026\/05\/browns-otas-reveal-deshaun-watson-leading-the-pack-in-monkens-new-offense.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Dan Labbe and Mary Kay Cabot<\/a> of Cleveland.com. <\/p>\n<p class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__body__article__medium css-1vqr2el\">Watson does have 72 starts and three Pro Bowls on his NFL resume. Most of that came with the Houston Texans, but it&#8217;s not outlandish to believe that Watson gives the Browns a better chance to  win now than Shedeur Sanders, Dillon Gabriel, or rookie sixth-round pick <a class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-inherit MuiLink-root MuiLink-underlineAlways MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__ui__link__medium_strong css-lu48cp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/bleacherreport.com\/articles\/25250851-nfl-draft-2026-scouting-report-arkansas-qb-taylen-green\">Taylen Green<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__body__article__medium css-1vqr2el\">Of course, that doesn&#8217;t mean the Browns, who just traded away Myles Garrett, are prepared to win now. Unless Watson regains his Houston form and pushes Cleveland toward the playoff hunt, the Browns may want to get a look at multiple quarterbacks this season, including Sanders. <\/p>\n<p class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__body__article__medium css-1vqr2el\">Cleveland must decide whether it has a viable starter on its roster before diving into a 2027 draft class that may contain the likes of Dante Moore, LaNorris Sellers, Arch Manning, and Darian Mensah. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After trading a major package to acquire Deshaun Watson and then signing him to a fully guaranteed five-year,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":685028,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[349,99],"class_list":["post-685027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/685027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=685027"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/685027\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/685028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=685027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=685027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=685027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}