Derrick Harmon and Dillon Gabriel shared a locker room last year in Oregon, and now they’ll be on opposite sides. On Monday, Harmon talked about his former college teammate and offered a scouting report on the Browns’ new starting quarterback. Though Gabriel lost his starting debut, he showed some encouraging signs, so the Steelers can’t afford to take him lightly.
“Great football player. Hell of a guy off the field, too, man”, Harmon said of Gabriel, via the Steelers’ website. “Very smart quarterback. He’s very smart. I feel like he knows his weaknesses and his strengths, and he’s gonna use them, and he’s gonna make sure that you don’t use his weaknesses against him. Very smart football player. We’ve just got to keep him in the pocket and stop that run at the end of the day”.
The Steelers selected Derrick Harmon in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft, while the Browns selected Dillon Gabriel in the third. Harmon didn’t start until Week 3, but only because he was rehabbing an injury. The Browns benched starting QB Joe Flacco after Week 3, promoting Gabriel into the lineup.
In his first start, Gabriel went 19-for-33 for 190 yards. He threw two touchdowns without an interception, averaging 5.8 yards per attempt. The Browns ultimately lost to the Vikings, 21-17, on a last-minute touchdown. Harmon recorded a sack in his NFL debut, helping to contribute to a Steelers victory. Last week, he recorded a batted pass that led to an interception.
Both Gabriel and Harmon played one season at Oregon last year, but the quarterback appears to have made a lasting impression on Harmon. And now they could potentially be divisional rivals for years to come. While it’s too early to say if Gabriel has a long-term starting job in front of him, Harmon seems fated to be a fixture of the Steelers’ defensive front for years to come.
The Browns are, of course, a terrible team in general, so one cannot hold Gabriel’s win-loss record with Cleveland entirely against him. Likewise, Harmon is in a favorable position with the Steelers, even if he is contributing positively.
Given what little tape there is out there on Gabriel as a professional player, though, perhaps Harmon’s insights into his former teammate will be beneficial. There’s obviously plenty of college tape on Gabriel, who logged 64 games and threw for nearly 19,000 yards.
Recommended for you