Dillon Gabriel, Browns
Getty
Quarterback Dillon Gabriel of the Cleveland Browns.
Common logic dictates that the Cleveland Browns ride with Joe Flacco as QB1 for at least the first one-third of the season, but pressures on the front office and the coaching staff could dictate otherwise.
Cleveland opens the year against the Cincinnati Bengals before playing five straight games against playoff teams from the 2024 campaign. Considering the schedule, the team’s roster deficiencies and the poor injury luck this offseason that has exacerbated those deficiencies, there is a reasonable chance the Browns could be 2-4, 1-5 or even 0-6 once that stretch of contests concludes.
That wouldn’t be great for locker room morale or the issues the team already has with attracting free agents to a small, cold-weather market. It would, however, allow the likes of Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders to practice and learn more, acclimate to the NFL game to a further degree and avoid confidence-shattering blowouts such as either rookie QB might face if he plays during the Browns’ brutal run of opening games.
However, fans have a taste for postseason play after appearances in 2020 and 2023, and could turn on the team if its season is essentially over weeks before it even hits the midpoint. As such, Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com wrote recently that the Browns’ decision-makers won’t hesitate to transition to Gabriel earlier than most expect if things go off the rails in, say, the first month of the campaign.
Dillon Gabriel First in Line for Starting Job if Joe Flacco Struggles, Shedeur Sanders May See Time Eventually
Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders could be a candidate for the practice squad.
GettyCleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders.
Cabot made her assertion on Sunday, August 31.
“If it’s going well and the Browns are scoring points, Flacco will continue on. But if he’s turning the ball over or taking sacks, the Browns will hand the reins to Gabriel without hesitation,” Cabot wrote. “They loved what they saw of Gabriel in camp and preseason games, and won’t hesitate to start him even if it’s early in the season.”
She added a throw-in about Sanders, who is QB3 on the roster now but could also get some run as the team’s starter late in the season after Flacco and Gabriel have had their cracks, and if Cleveland isn’t in playoff contention under the leadership of either one of them.
“As for Sanders, he’ll also get some live action this season, but probably not until later in the season when he’s more seasoned,” Cabot continued.
Browns Can’t Turn to Kenny Pickett, Could Rely on Bailey Zappe if Dillon Gabriel Isn’t Ready to Play Early
Kenny Pickett
GettyThe Cleveland Browns traded quarterback Kenny Pickett to the Las Vegas Raiders in August 2025.
If Flacco does struggle, the Browns would have likely turned to Kenny Pickett had they kept him on the roster. However, the Las Vegas Raiders came calling with a trade offer of a fifth-round pick after their backup QB, Aidan O’Connell, went down with a wrist injury that might sideline him for up to two months.
Cleveland was able to recoup the fifth-round pick it sent to the Philadelphia Eagles for Pickett in March and still head into the year with a veteran starter as a buffer for its two rookie QBs.
The Browns employed Tyler Huntley for the second consecutive preseason, but cut him loose ahead of the composition of their first unofficial 53-man roster. In the meantime, Cleveland added fourth-year signal-caller Bailey Zappe, presumably to reside on the practice squad — at least for now.
It is unclear if, or when, Zappe might get a shot at the starting job, though he could be early relief for Gabriel if the Browns don’t think he’s ready to go.