Dillon Gabriel’s breakout runway in Cleveland is still open, but the Browns’ quarterback picture remains unsettled

The Cleveland Browns entered the 2025 season with a quarterback plan that quickly became a test of timing and development. Dillon Gabriel, a third-round pick (the 95th selection), arrived expecting to learn behind Joe Flacco and compete for the next opportunity. Cleveland also added Shedeur Sanders in the fifth round, setting up a two-rookie dynamic where both players were searching for a path to relevance in a quarterback room anchored by experience.

According to Yahoo Sports, Gabriel won the early on-field competition for the No. 2 spot going into the regular season, positioning himself as the most likely in-house fallback behind Flacco. That matters in Cleveland because the quarterback depth chart does not stay static for long. When starters struggle or opportunities open, the organization often turns to the player who has already separated himself in camp preparation and practice reps, not just in name value.

But Gabriel’s rookie season, as described by multiple offseason writeups, did not settle into a clean “prove-it” arc. Heavy’s recap of the situation frames Gabriel as too often dismissed in Cleveland’s quarterback competition even while the team’s broader priorities shift. Heavy also reports that ESPN’s Field Yates believes Cleveland’s quarterback competition, in essence, should not be decided solely by reputation or prior standing, but by who performs best when the reps tighten in training camp and the preseason.

Heavy’s account highlights how the Browns’ discussion has been framed publicly, with Deshaun Watson and Shedeur Sanders drawing the most attention as options for the team’s longer-term direction. In that context, Gabriel is portrayed as a player who may need one more clear run of high-quality work to avoid becoming the organizational “depth placeholder,” even though he started the process with real momentum by winning the No. 2 competition out of the gate.

Addicted To Quack, a Browns-focused outlet, adds more specific offseason uncertainty by tying Gabriel’s future to what the coaching staff wants from the quarterback room under new leadership. It also describes Shedeur Sanders as having momentum in the competition, with Gabriel’s standing treated as more fragile. That framing aligns with a common offseason reality for developing quarterbacks: the team can value a player’s skill set while still reshaping the depth chart around the quarterback it believes is best suited for the upcoming development timeline.

For the Browns, the practical stakes are straightforward, even if the internal evaluation is not. The quarterback room is where Cleveland must decide whether it is buying time and allowing competitions to play out, or whether it is trying to establish a clearer hierarchy early enough to reduce turnover risk. Training camp will be the first place where “competition” becomes something measurable, and not just a preseason narrative.

The immediate thing to watch is not whether Gabriel is mentioned in headlines, but how the Browns deploy him in quarterback work and live-team situations. If Cleveland keeps a genuine competition open through camp and preseason, Gabriel’s path likely remains tied to execution under pressure. If the Browns instead push toward a more defined pecking order sooner, Gabriel’s offseason window narrows quickly, and the season’s depth plan will tilt toward whichever quarterback the staff trusts most with continuity.