Browns rookie quarterback Dillon Gabriel will get his first NFL start on Sunday, but he says winning the starting job has not been his focus in the months since Cleveland drafted him.
Gabriel said today that he just worked on getting better as a quarterback, and he figured everything would take care of itself after that.
“It wasn’t ever about winning a job, it was just playing my best, playing at a high level,” Gabriel said. “I think when you continually do that and you’re focused on your game, that will naturally come. The one time you’re thinking about, ‘I’ve got to go win something,’ you overreact or overdo rather than just serve in the moment, and that’s what I’ve been doing this whole time.”
The Browns spent a third-round pick on Gabriel in the hopes that he would be their starter some day, although they would have liked to see Joe Flacco play well enough to keep the job for more than four weeks. Now it’s Gabriel’s job, and he’ll try to play his best to show he deserves to keep it.