The Cleveland Browns plan to start Deshaun Watson in Week 10 against the Houston Texans, a source told ESPN's Jeremy Fowler on Monday.
Shedeur Sanders started Sunday's 23-22 overtime loss in New Orleans to the Saints and completed 19 of 31 passes for 297 yards and two touchdown passes. Watson didn't clear concussion protocol until Saturday and was inactive for Sunday's game.
After Sunday's game, coach Todd Monken said he was "proud" of Sanders after his performance but sidestepped questions about whether the second-year quarterback had made a case to start again.
"How long has it been? Thirty minutes since the game ended? I'm not getting into quarterback. If we want to talk about Shedeur, we can talk about Shedeur," Monken said.
Watson led the Browns to a 5-3 record before Sunday's game, in large part because of an NFL-high five winning drives but entered Week 9 with a 40.9 QBR that ranks 28th out of 30 qualifying quarterbacks. Sanders registered a 39 QBR against the Saints, his second-highest mark in a game in his career.
After a slow start, Sanders heated up in the second half Sunday with a 60-yard completion to rookie wide receiver Denzel Boston and then a 64-yard touchdown pass to fellow rookie wide receiver KC Concepcion that gave Cleveland a 13-9 lead late in the fourth quarter. Sanders' two 60-yard throws doubled the amount Watson had in his first eight games.
He then led the Browns on a late field goal drive to send the game to overtime and connected with Harold Fannin Jr. on a 39-yard touchdown pass late in the extra period but his last-ditch pass on a 2-point try to win the game fell incomplete.
ESPN's Daniel Oyefusi contributed to this report.