Cleveland Browns quaterback Dillon Gabriel
Cleveland Browns quaterback Dillon Gabriel | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
After months of mystery, the Cleveland Browns finally put their cards on the table in regard to Dillon Gabriel and his place on the team’s 53-man roster.
With his 21-day practice window set to expire, the Browns made the decision to activate Gabriel off injured reserve on Monday. That means Cleveland, at least for the time being, will leave themselves short at another position group to protect Shedeur Sanders, Taylen Green, and Gabriel from hitting the NFL’s waiver system.
The league’s 2026 trade deadline is only a couple of weeks away, on Tuesday, Nov. 10.
To make room for Gabriel, the Browns announced that they were releasing Carsen Ryan, their seventh-round rookie tight end who has played sparingly on offense this season.
Gabriel should immediately step back in as Cleveland’s third-string quarterback, which was his standing on the depth chart throughout training camp and the team’s three preseason games. The Browns not-so-subtly utilized an NFL loophole to keep all four of their quarterbacks by placing Gabriel on injured reserve with a mysterious back injury on the morning of roster cutdown day.
He’s fully healthy now — and probably has been for a while. His return to the active roster impacts several players, too, both positively and negatively.
Dillon Gabriel's return creates immediate ripple effects across the Browns roster
Winner: Dillon Gabriel
The Browns held up their end of the bargain here, and that’s a win for Gabriel. NFL teams are prohibited from carrying healthy players on injured reserve, so activating him this week was really the only play.
By moving back onto the active roster, Gabriel at least could end up having a say in where he ends up if the Browns do seek a trade prior to the deadline. If he were to be released on Monday, he would first have to clear waivers before becoming a free agent, so his potential destination would have initially been out of his control.
Loser: Carsen Ryan
Monday was a tough day for Ryan, who was just waived by a franchise with next to no tight end depth behind Harold Fannin Jr. The Browns will now enter the week with just two tight ends, Fannin and veteran Blake Whiteheart, on the active roster.
Ryan was a seventh-round draft pick, so he was never a lock to make the roster this summer. He brought a skillset that Cleveland needs as more of an inline blocking tight end with enough versatility to play more of an H-back role, if needed.
There’s a chance that Ryan could return to the Browns on the practice squad, as it’s hard to find a team across the league with a bigger need at tight end than Cleveland has.
Winner: Blake Whiteheart
Whiteheart was already firmly ahead of Ryan on the depth chart. He’s played 149 snaps this season as the No. 2 tight end behind Fannin. Ryan hadn’t logged an offensive snap since Week 4, playing solely on special teams.
The Browns like Whiteheart’s versatility, but he was hardly considered a roster lock when he re-signed on a one-year deal this offseason. Jack Stoll’s injury helped open the door to more of a full-time role on offense, and Ryan getting waived only strengthens Whiteheart's standing on the team for 2026.
Loser: Taylen Green
The good news is that Green, who’s been the emergency QB3 this season for the Browns, wasn’t the player who was waived in favor of Gabriel. But the sixth-round rookie just dropped farther down the depth chart with Gabriel making his way back to the active roster.
How the Browns treat game days with their four quarterbacks will be interesting. They could roll with two active QBs in Deshaun Watson and Shedeur Sanders with Gabriel and Green as game-day inactives.
But will Green keep the QB3 designation? That remains to be seen. At the very least, there will be competition for that job going forward.
Winner: Michael Burton
Burton felt like a candidate to be released, especially with his standing as a vested veteran. The Browns could have cut the 34-year-old fullback and streamlined him back to the practice squad.
Burton is coming off his most impactful game of the season on Sunday, though. He only played 11 offensive snaps, but Pro Football Focus gave him a strong 73.7 run-blocking grade. The Browns are also coming off their best rushing game of the season with 183 yards, 6.3 yards per rush, and three scores.
Burton was a player that head coach Todd Monken wanted on the team, and it doesn’t appear that he’s going anywhere anytime soon.
Loser: Shedeur Sanders
Gabriel’s return could mean absolutely nothing for Sanders, but if it does eventually change the young QB’s situation with the team, it won’t be in a positive way.
Sanders has been operating as the clear No. 2 option behind Watson and was firmly ahead of Gabriel from the start of the spring program. It certainly doesn’t help to have a player from your same draft class breathing down your neck again, though.
If the Browns do make a move ahead of the trade deadline this year, Gabriel’s roster spot puts Sanders’ future with the team in question, at least more so than at this time last week.