Chad Ochocinco warns Browns' Deshaun Watson has 'very short' leash, could lose starting job by Week 3

The Cleveland Browns made their quarterback decision entering the 2026 NFL season, but football fans are still trying to process why Deshaun Watson is getting the Week 1 start against the Jacksonville Jaguars over Shedeur Sanders.

The decision by first-year head coach Todd Monken may have answered the question on everyone’s mind for the Browns this preseason, but the debate still rages on throughout the football world considering Watson’s track record in Cleveland and how the $230 million man hasn’t lived up to his contract in the slightest.

In fact, fans booed Watson during their home preseason against the Buffalo Bills, to which he called them "disrespectful" and "personal" rather than a reaction to his performance on the field.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM Either way, Watson heads into the new campaign – his first regular-season play since tearing his Achilles in 2024 – with an immense amount of pressure.

However, one former NFL star believes the leash will be quite tight for the veteran signal caller.

Maybe to the point where he doesn’t start under center come Week 3 – the Browns’ home opener against the Carolina Panthers .

"If they start the season 0-2 – you open with the Jaguars.

Then, you have Tampa Bay, then you come home.

I’m not sure you play the third game, but you’d have to start that season off either 1-1 or 2-0.

Either 1-1 or 2-0.

One or the other.

If you start off 0-2, they’re making a move.

They’re making a move before the season gets too far away from them," Chad Ochocinco told OutKick in a recent interview while highlighting his partnership with DraftKings ahead of this NFL season.

DESHAUN WATSON SAYS 'EMOTIONS GOT THE BEST OF ME' AFTER RIPPING CLEVELAND BROWNS FANS FOR BOOING Ochocinco has been very vocal about the Browns’ quarterback conundrum on his "Nightcap" podcast with Shannon Sharpe, where he’s noted on numerous occasions that there was never really a position battle between Watson, Sanders, Dillon Gabriel and anyone else on the quarterbacks' depth chart.