The Cleveland Browns have some possibilities at the quarterback position this summer.
Two veterans, including 40-year-old Joe Flacco and Kenny Pickett, who's on his third team in as many seasons, and two rookie draft picks will battle it out for who gets the nod in Week 1 against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sept. 7.
Of those two rookies, third-rounder Dillon Gabriel might have an inside edge. He'll be battling it out with the biggest story of this year's NFL Draft, Shedeur Sanders, who was selected by the Browns in the fifth round.
Browns insider Dan Labbe thinks that because of where he was drafted, Gabriel might have an inside track and a longer leash than Sanders.
“So where they draft these guys matters and there’s a reason they drafted them and they do care about that to an extent,” Labbe stated. “Dillon Gabriel was a third-round pick. And so while we’re sitting here saying he hasn’t looked the best of these two quarterbacks and especially today, he’s also just got a longer leash and he’s just got more room to not be, to maybe not be the guy they’ve envisioned yet because he was a third-round pick and that matters.”
A lot of attention has been placed on Sanders, who might be carrying more pressure because of his name and his story as the son of Hall of Famer Deion Sanders.
But as the higher draft pick, Gabriel might be the favorite between the two early on, while it's probably Flacco who has the inside track to be the Week 1 starter due to his experience both in the NFL and in coach Kevin Stefanski's system.