What happened: Watson is expected to start for Cleveland after entering the final year of his contract. Mayfield goes into the matchup weeks after landing a three-year extension in Tampa Bay, putting both quarterbacks on very different tracks from the same 2022 upheaval.

Why it matters: The game turns a franchise-defining split into a live comparison rather than a retrospective debate. Cleveland is still tied to Watson's outcome in 2026, while Tampa Bay doubled down on Mayfield with a three-year extension after settling its quarterback question before the season.

What to watch: Sunday's result will put the trade's long tail back on the field for the first time since the quarterbacks split in 2022. The next marker after kickoff is whether Watson or Mayfield leaves Tampa with the cleaner case for how his side of the breakup aged.