Few teams carried more scrutiny but lower expectations entering training camp this summer ahead of the NFL season than Cleveland.
Coming off last season’s 3-14 record, the Browns were projected for the lowest over-under for victories in 2025 by at least one major sportsbook. Yet as the team’s backups played during preseason exhibitions for the past three weeks, and as the NFL’s deadline to trim rosters to 53 players arrived Tuesday, the Browns’ decision on one position in particular was constantly dissected.
Who would be their backup quarterback behind starter Joe Flacco?
Cleveland coach Kevin Stefanski named third-round draft pick Dillon Gabriel as the winner of the backup role Tuesday, ahead of fifth-round pick Shedeur Sanders.
Gabriel “continues to get better and better,” Stefanski said Tuesday.
“It’s such an all-encompassing evaluation,” the coach told reporters. “Everything the guys did in the games was important. We also saw a lot of them out here in practice and how they are at their craft.”
The son of NFL Hall of Famer Deion Sanders, whom he played for in college at Jackson State and Colorado, Sanders was considered a potential early-round draft pick before sliding to the draft’s third day in April.
At 40 years old and entering his 18th NFL season, Flacco isn’t considered a long-term option as Cleveland’s starter, which underscores the competition for his primary backup. The pecking order largely determines practice opportunities during the season.
Sanders completed 14 of his 23 passes for 138 yards and two touchdowns without a sack while starting during Cleveland’s preseason opener on Aug. 8, while Gabriel was unavailable with a hamstring injury. When Gabriel started the second preseason game, he completed 13 of his 18 passes for 143 yards with an interception and two sacks. Both played in the preseason finale last week, with Gabriel completing 12 of his 19 passes for 129 yards and a touchdown, while Sanders was 3-for-6 for 14 yards but was sacked five times. The sacks highlighted a particular criticism from draft evaluators about Sanders’ deep drops in the pocket, and how they could lead to sacks.
When Cleveland removed Sanders and played another backup, Tyler Huntley, for the final two minutes of the game, it further aggravated a discussion that had been raging for weeks on social media about whether the rookie quarterbacks were being given equal opportunities. Among those critical were Shannon Sharpe and former NFL receiver Chad Johnson, who on their YouTube show blamed the team for their handling of the quarterback repetitions.
“I don’t concern myself with outside types of things, but I’m committed to his development just like all of our rookies,” Stefanski said during a call with reporters Sunday, when asked about the “persistent narrative” that he was sabotaging Sanders. “We’ll continue to focus on getting our guys better.”
Andrew Berry, Cleveland’s general manager, told NFL Network after the final preseason game that the team was ready to carry four quarterbacks on its 53-man roster during the season.
“We have a room that we like all the guys in there,” Berry said, two days before trading one of those quarterbacks, Kenny Pickett, to Las Vegas. “We don’t really see that as a problem. We more see it as an opportunity.”
