Dawgs By Nature
The dust has settled: Joe Flacco was named the Browns’ starting quarterback a week ago, then Kenny Pickett was traded, and finally, both rookie quarterbacks made the team’s 53-man roster.
There may not have been much mystery left as to who the Browns’ backup quarterback would be to begin the regular season, especially with how things unfolded in the final preseason game. Nonetheless, it was one of the biggest position battles of training camp, and now, head coach Kevin Stefanski has made it official:
Rookie Dillon Gabriel, taken in the third round of the 2025 NFL Draft, will be first up if something happens to Joe Flacco. Shedeur Sanders will be inactive on gameday, but would be the emergency third quarterback if needed.
Gabriel had a solid start to camp, followed by a mini rough patch that included him having a hamstring injury too. However, he debuted in the second preseason game to a solid performance (until a dumb interception), and then looked sharp in the preseason finale to solidify his spot.
Sanders has the spotlight on him, despite having fallen to the fifth round of this year’s draft. He had a nice preseason debut against the Panthers, but looked lost with the third-team unit that couldn’t protect as well in the preseason finale. Sanders certainly has some good potential, but needs his skills to be polished. Throwing him into the mix would only reinforce bad habits, so the Browns are doing the right thing for him to let him learn his craft a bit more as the No. 3 quarterback.
We’ll see in the coming days whether Cleveland adds a fourth quarterback to their practice squad, such as veteran Tyler Huntley, who was among the team’s final cuts.
