The Cleveland Browns had a strange offseason that featured what may have been the NFL’s first four-man quarterback competition, which ultimately resulted in Joe Flacco winning the starting role due to his comfort level in the offense and his big arm.
Flacco has the offense moving, but the Browns are 0-2 largely due to his turnovers.
Rookie Dillon Gabriel came on in relief of Flacco in Week 2 against the Baltimore Ravens and the third-round pick from the 2025 NFL Draft has impressed former NFL head coach Herm Edwards.
“I said this when they drafted this guy. He reminds me of Brian Sipe,” Edwards said.
"He reminds me of Brian Sipe," – @HermEdwards on Dillon Gabriel.
Herm says that the Browns will start thinking about a QB change if they start 0-3. pic.twitter.com/AcgVVDoN9m
— ESPN Cleveland (@ESPNCleveland) September 17, 2025
Edwards said he believes the Browns could think about starting Gabriel if they drop to 0-3 as expected after facing the Green Bay Packers.
Gabriel threw his first NFL touchdown against the Ravens and completed all three of his pass attempts for 19 yards.
Cleveland is heading into a difficult matchup with Green Bay, which has looked like the best team in the NFL through two weeks after convincingly defeating the Detroit Lions and Washington Commanders.
Flacco hasn’t started a full regular season of games since 2017, so it isn’t reasonable to expect him to do it at 40 years old.
Cleveland needs to figure out if Gabriel can be the long-term solution at quarterback ahead of the 2026 NFL Draft, and if the losses continue to pile up this season, all signs would point to him getting that chance once the schedule eases up.
That would give the organization a better evaluation of his abilities.
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