The Cleveland Browns are officially onto their 13th starting quarterback since Baker Mayfield, but they promise that this one will be different. After trading away Joe Flacco to a divisional rival in the Cincinnati Bengals, head coach Kevin Stefanski announced that they would be moving forward with Dillon Gabriel as the new face of their franchise.
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The start has been anything but stellar. Gabriel himself is below the league average in terms of pass completion, but he was able to find a win against an imploding Miami Dolphins team. In the eyes of Stefanski, that means something, and he now believes that Gabriel needs as many first-team practice reps as possible to bring this vision to life.
According to Cleveland.com’s Mary Kay Cabot, that’s only going to make things worse for their other rookie QB, Shedeur Sanders. “Dillon Gabriel needs all the reps,” she said, while adding:
“Shedeur is not getting those one or two reps that the QB2 normally gets in practice… But now that Gabriel is the QB1, he needs to be getting out there and throwing the ball as much as possible to Jerry Jeudy, David Njoku, when he’s healthy, Harold Fannin, and the rest of those guys.”
Ever since he first began to slide in the 2025 NFL Draft, fans and analysts alike have been waiting for a team to give Sanders the chance that they all believe he so rightfully deserves. The only issue is that, even though both Flacco and Kenny Pickett have since left town, he’s seemingly no closer to getting that chance.
For Sanders and his fans, this has certainly been a letdown, but Cabot did suggest that he isn’t content with simply accepting the position and rolling over. “Shedeur is getting plenty of reps in other ways. He’s spending extra time with Kevin Stefanski in his office. He’s getting reps after practice as well, so when his time comes, he will be ready.”
Of course, there’s no telling when that time may be. Cleveland has already signaled that it isn’t aiming for the playoffs in 2025, so it’s unlikely that there is some set number of losses that Gabriel could incur that would trigger Sanders getting the opportunity to start.
At this point in time, it seems as if the Browns have committed themselves to learning about Gabriel through trial and error. Thankfully, for Gabriel, they seem to be giving him a rather long leash, but for the proud members of the dog pound, that will likely mean more suffering on Sunday afternoons.
Cleveland is caught between a rock and a hard place here with this QB debacle, but it’s hard to feel any sympathy for them. After all, what we’re seeing now is merely the consequences of their actions.
