Cleveland Browns quarterback Dillon Gabriel.
Getty
Cleveland Browns quarterback Dillon Gabriel.
The Cleveland Browns aren’t overlooking Dillon Gabriel as their quarterback competition begins to take shape.
Cleveland is set to enter next season with Gabriel, Shedeur Sanders and Deshaun Watson all under contract. New head coach Todd Monken has made it clear there will be no predetermined starter.
“Sure, I think it’s an open competition,” Monken said in February. “I don’t know why it wouldn’t be. I don’t mean that harshly, but I don’t think there’s enough on film over the last couple years to say we have our starter yet — whether internally or externally.”
While much of the conversation has centered on a two-man race between Sanders and Watson, Browns owner Jimmy Haslam pushed back on that narrative and made it clear Gabriel remains firmly in the mix.
“Competition’s good for all of us,” Haslam said. “And they’re all competitors. Listen, would things have been different if Dillon (Gabriel) doesn’t get a concussion in the Baltimore game? I don’t know. So let’s not rule him out that quickly, either. We’ve got three guys who have been successful at various levels. Let’s see how the competition goes. And we have a head coach who’s been very good at developing all kinds of different quarterbacks.”
Gabriel appeared in six games as a rookie and showed flashes of efficiency in a limited sample size. He threw for 937 yards with seven touchdowns and two interceptions.
Dillon Gabriel Not ‘Forgotten’ by Browns
Haslam’s statement echoes what general manager Andrew Berry has said about Gabriel in recent weeks.
“He may be forgotten externally, but he’s not forgotten to us,” Berry said at the NFL combine. “(He’s) gonna handle everything within his control … Dillon’s a guy that has a bright future in this league.”
The Browns have options — but no clear answers — at the most important position on the field. Haslam is taking a patient approach, opting to let the situation play out rather than force a decision.
“We’ll know a lot more over the next six months, right?” he said. “We’ll see what happens. If you think about Shedeur, he played what seven games? He (started) seven games. You go back and look at rookie quarterbacks that played a whole year and see what their statistics were. It’s a tough position to play, a tough way to break in. So he played seven games. Deshaun has had really tough breaks with his career over the last four years. And Dillon played what? (Six). So it’s premature to say they can … I’m the last person to say in our organization they can or can’t play.”
Browns Open to Adding Young Quarterback
The Browns may not be done building out their quarterback room. Berry said the team is open about adding a fourth quarterback to the mix.
“I’d say that you always want to be flexible because you don’t know how circumstances change or what opportunities come your way,” Berry said at the NFL owners meetings. “Our lean would be if we do add someone to the quarterback room, it would be someone who’s a younger player most likely. But I can’t state that definitively because I don’t know what the next couple of weeks will hold. Anyone that we bring in at any spot on the roster, you know, our thought is that they are competing.”
The Browns hold nine picks in the upcoming draft, including two first-round selections at No. 6 and No. 24 overall. Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson has been frequently linked to Cleveland and is widely viewed as one of the second-best option on the board behind Fernando Mendoza.