Dillon Gabriel will start the year as the Browns’ backup quarterback, making Shedeur Sanders QB3 when Cleveland starts the season next Sept. 7 against the Bengals.
Head coach Kevin Stefanski announced the decision on Tuesday afternoon, and Sanders — the Browns’ fifth-round pick in April — can dress as the team’s emergency third quarterback.
It closed the book after weeks of intrigue around the Browns’ quarterback room throughout camp and the preseason.
Both Gabriel — a 2025 third-round draft pick — and Sanders appeared in two preseason games.
“It’s such an all-encompassing evaluation,” Stefanski explained to 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. He’s certainly somebody that we think is getting better and better.”
Gabriel finished the exhibition season with 272 yards in the air and a touchdown, completing 25 of 37 passing attempts.
Sanders recorded 152 passing yards and two touchdowns during his preseason appearances while completing 17 of his 29 passes.
The Colorado product had spent most of training camp as the fourth quarterback on the Browns’ depth chart.
The Browns had five quarterbacks in camp at one point during the preseason, but the QB picture became a bit clearer after Kenny Pickett was traded to the Raiders on Monday and the team released Tyler Huntley.
Joe Flacco was named the Browns’ starting quarterback last week, leaving the only question being as to whether Gabriel or Sanders would be his backup.
The microscope has been focused intensely on Sanders since the lead-up to the NFL draft, where he fell into the fifth round after being considered a first-rounder at one point.
His handling of the pre-draft processes is believed to be part of the reason why his draft stock took a hit.