Dillon Gabriel was the Cleveland Browns‘ starter less than seven months ago. Now, heading into training camp, he’s little more than an afterthought.
A concussion during the first half of a game against the Baltimore Ravens in November of last year sidelined Gabriel and ultimately cost him his job, as fellow rookie Shedeur Sanders stepped in and remained QB1 over the final seven contests of the campaign.
Since then, former head coach Kevin Stefanski, ostensibly Gabriel’s biggest supporter in the organization, lost his job. Cleveland hired Todd Monken, who called out Gabriel for not spending time around the facilities in contrast to the praise Monken gave Sanders for doing the opposite early in the offseason.
Meanwhile, Deshaun Watson has returned to full health, and he and Sanders are dominating the discussion around the Browns’ starting QB competition this spring/summer.
While Sanders and Watson spar for the top spot on the depth chart, talk in the media and around the league indicates that even they are fighting simply to serve as a one-year placeholder before the team selects its franchise QB in Round 1 of the 2027 NFL draft.
All of that has rendered Gabriel buried on the depth chart and essentially left for dead with regards to his future in Cleveland.
Even more evidence to that fact surfaced on Friday, June 5, when it became official that defensive end Jared Verse, a recent Browns’ acquisition via the Myles Garrett–Los Angeles Rams trade, is claiming Gabriel’s jersey number.
“Gabriel wore the number last season, but Verse is higher in the team’s pecking order than a backup quarterback so it is also no surprise to learn that Gabriel will be the one changing his look,” Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk wrote.
Dillon Gabriel Looking More Like Trade/Cut Candidate in Cleveland by the Day
GettyCleveland Browns quarterback Dillon Gabriel.
Cleveland has said it has no current plans to trade Gabriel, but the team’s actions are speaking louder than its words at this point with regards to the 2025 third-round pick.
Gabriel’s play on the field isn’t saying much in his defense, either.
“His first throw in seven-on-seven is the single worst throw I’ve ever seen at a Browns OTAs,” Zac Jackson of The Athletic said on The Ultimate Cleveland Sports Show Thursday. “It had to have slipped out of his hands. He was trying to hit a guy in the back of the end zone and he missed by 25 yards. That is not an exaggeration. People were openly laughing. People being me.”
Taylen Green More Sensible QB3 for Cleveland This Season
GettyQuarterback Taylen Green of the Cleveland Browns.
The Browns will sell low on Gabriel if they trade him this summer, but a late Day 3 pick in return for the 25-year-old QB reads like a salvage operation of sorts now.
His value isn’t going to increase if he doesn’t see the field in the regular season, and that won’t happen until late in the year, if it happens at all, as it would require injuries and/or exceedingly bad play from Sanders and Watson.
Such a reality is far from inconceivable, but the Browns also have sixth-round rookie Taylen Green on the roster. The hyper-athletic product out of Arkansas has some Anthony Richardson vibes, and could perhaps turn his elite physical gifts into more production than the Indianapolis Colts QB has over his first three years in the league, given that Green will get time to develop.
Cleveland already owns two first-round picks next April and is poised to make an aggressive trade up the draft board if the Browns don’t finish poorly enough to position their own selection inside the top-three or top-five and land a QB prospect like Arch Manning or Dante Moore.
The combination of a player like that likely coming to town less than a year from now, Green as a late-round flier with huge athletic upside and Sanders under contract for at least two more seasons beyond 2026 adds up to essentially nothing left in Cleveland for Gabriel already.
And the Browns seem to understand that, too, as they facilitate a number change with the NFL and intend to erase a large portion of Gabriel’s established on-field identity by handing his jersey number over to a new leader on the defense in Verse.
Dillon Gabriel Takes Another Big Loss, as Future With Browns on Life Support