A cleared Deshaun Watson, a rising Shedeur Sanders and a Browns QB decision on hold

CLEVELAND (AP) — Even though Deshaun Watson has been cleared from the concussion protocol, it isn’t certain he'll be the Cleveland Browns’ starting quarterback for this week’s game against his former team, the Houston Texans.

Coach Todd Monken said on Monday that he wasn’t ready to name a quarterback since he still wants to evaluate Sunday’s 23-22 overtime loss to the New Orleans Saints with the offensive coaching staff.

Shedeur Sanders was solid in his first start of the season, completing 19 of 31 passes for 297 yards and two touchdowns.

“It’s week to week. A player doesn’t lose or win a job ... I don’t know what that means. Each week we put the best players on the field that give us a chance to win,” said Monken when he was asked if he believes a player can lose their starting job due to injury.

Monken also didn’t set a timeline for when he would tap either Watson or Sanders as this week’s starter. Sanders’ late-game performance showed Monken that the second-year quarterback and son of Pro Football Hall of Famer Deion Sanders is showing signs of development.

“There were moments at the end of the game where he made plays," Monken said. "He got it in the players’ hands and did a really good job. He was in command. So, I was really pleased for him and I was hopeful he played well. I thought he had a great week of practice, and there is no guarantee that that will carry over.

“It gives me more and more confidence in what I saw in the fall, that there’s something to build on, for sure.”

Monken decided to go for the win after Harold Fannin Jr.‘s 39-yard touchdown in overtime, but Sanders was pressured on the 2-point conversion and couldn’t complete his pass to Denzel Boston after rolling right. Even if Boston would have caught it, the play would have been nullified because right tackle Tytus Howard was called for holding.

Monken said Sanders didn’t have a chance to complete a quick throw.

“They did a good job with their corners of disrupting us at the line of scrimmage,” Monken said. “We didn’t get to the spots we needed to get to, so could’ve even sat in there a little bit, of course, but we got disrupted and that threw us off a little bit.”

After only three home games in the first nine weeks, the Browns are home for five weeks, including their bye week, and don’t hit the road again until Dec. 19 against the New York Giants. Even though there is some disappointment at being 5-4 after consecutive losses for the first time this season, Monken tried to stress the positives to his players after the close loss in New Orleans.

“We’ve earned being 5-4," he said. "We’re right there in the mix. I do believe our best football is ahead of us, and I wanted our guys to know that we made it through a pretty damn hard grind of having six of your first nine on the road. We’re 3-0 at home. Guess what? We have the next four at home and a bye week.

"It’s all right there in front of us. It really is.”

Sanders was 3 of 5 for 154 yards and a touchdown on downfield attempts (throws of 10 air yards or more). All five attempts happened after halftime.

The Browns have allowed opponents to score on the opening possession in all but one game this season. The 41 points allowed on first drives are tied with Miami for the worst in the league. Five of those drives ended in touchdowns, while the Saints were the third team to score on a field goal.

Boston and KC Concepcion became the first rookie wide receiver duo to both have at least 85 yards receiving in the same game since Amari Cooper and Seth Roberts did it for the Oakland Raiders in 2015. Boston had six catches for 98 yards and Concepcion added four receptions for 85 yards and his first touchdown.

Safety Grant Delpit had a rough day in his hometown, allowing five receptions for 41 yards. He got caught flat-footed on Juwan Johnson’s 15-yard touchdown in overtime.

The Browns left New Orleans without any significant injuries.

7 — Consecutive field goals made by Andre Szmyt of 50 yards or more.

Cleveland will host Houston on Sunday. Watson made his Browns debut against the Texans in 2022, completing 12 of 22 passes for 131 yards in a 27-14 victory.

See AP’s full NFL coverage here

Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders (2) is tripped up by New Orleans Saints defensive end Carl Granderson, right, in the first half of an NFL football game in New Orleans, Sunday, Nov. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Cleveland Browns head coach Todd Monken in the second half of an NFL football game against the New Orleans Saints in New Orleans, Sunday, Nov. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Ella Hall)

Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders (2) passes in the second half of an NFL football game against the New Orleans Saints in New Orleans, Sunday, Nov. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

GENEVA (AP) — The United States is set Tuesday to become the first country to fully shun a regular review of its human rights record at the U.N.'s top rights body since it was created two decades ago.

The Trump administration last year pulled the U.S. out of the Human Rights Council, accusing it of an anti-U.S. and anti-Israel bias, and alleging that it didn't uphold the very values it promotes.

Supporters back the council's mandate to keep tabs on human rights in all U.N. member states including the U.S., which has drawn criticism for its policies including strong-arm deportations and targeted killings of alleged drug-runners in the Caribbean and Pacific — which the administration has said are designed to protect U.S. workers and help keep the country safe.

The Geneva-based council regularly examines the rights records of all 193 U.N. member states — generally about every four to five years — as part of a process known as the universal periodic review.

The United States, under Trump, already skipped its appointment for its review a year ago. The scheduled November 2025 review was pushed back until Tuesday in hopes that the U.S. government might change its mind.

It did not.

“(W)e give no credibility to the agency,” a State Department spokesperson said in an email to The Associated Press.

“This irredeemable body makes a mockery of human rights through consistent failures to uphold its own ‘values’ as it pushes anti-American rhetoric,” the spokesperson said, alleging the council's “persistent failure to condemn the most egregious human rights violators.”

The council says the process requires participation of the country in question, and in the case of an absence of any national representatives, the review cannot go forward.

As part of such reviews, national delegations — which at times can include a dozen officials or more — make a presentation, face questions and hear recommendations from other national envoys. It's supposed to be a sweeping and constructive process, akin to holding up a mirror to governments to improve their human rights policies.

Critics of the U.S. snub warn that the walkout could encourage other countries — many of which bristle about intense scrutiny from human rights monitors — to follow suit.

Jamil Dakwar, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's human rights program, said: “The administration is saying to the world, ‘we don’t care about whether you would review us or not, we’re going to continue to violate human rights unabashed’."

"And we are saying: ‘No, enough is enough. This council should hold the United States accountable’,” he told reporters Monday in Geneva, as part of a push by civil society to raise awareness about the U.S. rights record.

He said the ACLU and allies have called on the U.N. human rights chief to respond by presenting an update on rights in the United States early next year.

Eric Tistounet, a visiting professor at the Geneva Graduate Institute who was the council's first secretary, said the U.S. walkout could affect the credibility of the council's review system.

“If the predominant global power — which has always claimed to adhere to the human rights norms — doesn’t show up and doesn’t even justify why, then you are in big trouble," he said.

FILE - The empty seat of the U.S. delegation, during the 60th session of the Human Rights Council, at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Sept. 8, 2025. (Salvatore Di Nolfi/Keystone via AP File)