Dawgs By Nature
Gabriel looked calm, cool, and collected on the first day of 2025 training camp
The Cleveland Browns had an excellent first day of 2025 training camp, and though a few players stood out, Dillon Gabriel stole the show.
Gabriel mostly worked with the 2nd-team offensive unit on Wednesday, taking snaps from Luke Wypler and being the No.2 QB behind Kenny Pickett in 11-on-11 drills.
If only three words could be used to describe Gabriel’s performance on day one, poised, timely, and accurate would be my choices. He was very good inside the pocket when maneuvering around pressure to find open throwing lanes yesterday. It’s not hard to see why he was so effective in college despite being a smaller quarterback.
His ability to keep his eyes downfield while moving around is his calling card, and also why he had so many “highlight reel” plays at the collegiate level. If he thinks that he won’t be able to make a throw on time or if the throwing lanes are muddled, he’ll move around to give both the receiver and himself a different set of angles to work with. He did this quite a bit yesterday.
There was one specific play during the 7-on-7 drills where he was rolling out to the right (his weak side) and made a beautiful throw to WR Luke Floriea, right over the top of CB Chigozie Anusiem.
Gabriel progressed through his reads in a timely fashion as well, which can sometimes be difficult for rookies early on. It’s natural to get jittery and sometimes unintentionally lock onto a primary receiver in camp, but he didn’t seem to have a problem with that. This is also the type of thing that the coaches have raved about in terms of his mental acuity and maturity as a quarterback. He’s been practicing like a 2nd or 3rd-year player, not a rookie, at least so far.
He had a couple of errant throws yesterday, but for the most part, he was right on the money from both an accuracy and timing aspect.
A lot of people were downplaying this throw from Gabriel, saying it was blown coverage. That may be the case, but look how he stood in the pocket here and made this throw while being tagged/hit.
Overall, “DG5” had a great first day of 2025 training camp, and it’s going to be extremely exciting to watch him progress over the next few weeks.
What are your thoughts on Dillon Gabriel’s performance on day one? Join fellow Browns fans in the comment section below.
