Todd Monken: We won't play most starters against Bills if joint practice goes well

Shedeur Sanders will get the start at quarterback against the Bills in the Browns' second preseason game, but he may not have many other first-stringers in the lineup with him. The Browns will have a joint practice with the Bills on Thursday and Browns head coach Todd Monken said at a Monday press conference that he and Bills head coach Joe Brady had a conversation about how they would handle that session. Monken said that the plan is for both teams to use their starters in the joint practice and then keep them on the bench Saturday. “We both talked about that if we see out of our ones, our group, our older players what we want to see on Thursday, they would not play in the game,” Monken said. “We agreed upon that. The plan is that we’ll play our ones a significant amount against each other on Thursday in a controlled environment. Not that the other guys aren’t going to get reps, but in a controlled environment and see where we’re at." Deshaun Watson started for the Browns in their first preseason game and is set to play the third quarter this week. Monken said will happen regardless of how Thursday's work goes, but added "as we speak right now" when discussing all of the quarterback plans for the coming days.