How Dillon Gabriel responds this week in Philadelphia to the Shedeur Sanders surge of last week may decide the Browns' backup quarterback competition. (Cleveland Browns)
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Editor's note: Tony Grossi is a Cleveland Browns and NFL analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland. He has covered the Browns since 1984.
PHILADELPHIA, PA
The Browns are back in Kevin Stefanski’s stomping grounds for a week of work – well, two practices plus one game – against the Philadelphia Eagles, the reigning Super Bowl champions and franchise model for what GM Andrew Berry wants his football organization to become.
There’s a ways to go for any semblance of that comparison, of course.
Still …
The last time the Browns shared the practice fields at the Eagles’ NovaCare Complex, it led to a surprising playoff appearance in 2023.
At the time of their joint practices, the Browns had uncertainty at the quarterback position. Deshaun Watson was coming off a first year with the Browns interrupted by an 11-game suspension. There was still apprehension about whether Watson could be a quarterback worthy of a $230 million fully guaranteed contract and three first-round draft picks in a trade with the Houston Texans.
Nobody could have foreseen how that season played out.
Watson eventually went belly-up with a shoulder injury, Jim Schwartz’s defense carried the team through three emergency starting quarterbacks, and then Joe Flacco rescued everything at the end with four straight 300-yard passing games “off the couch” in a Cinderella playoff run.
Two years later, Flacco is on hand from the beginning. The defense is recapturing its “bad-assery” by the day, and the quarterback position is still kind of uncertain.
Flacco looks like the runaway winner of a competition that never was that close, but the rest of the pecking order is far from decided.
Kenny Pickett, allegedly the apple of Berry’s eye, trailed Flacco from the start and then suffered hamstring problems. Pickett has been limited for two weeks and is not expected to participate in full team practices and, thus, could miss his second preseason game. If Pickett is handed the starting job to begin the season now, it won’t be for merit – unless he throws for 400 yards in the preseason finale against the Los Angeles Rams.
Last week saw social media sensation, savvy content creator and immensely popular fifth-round draft pick Shedeur Sanders ignite the Browns fan base into a frenzy with a very good overall starting performance against the Carolina Panthers.
Sanders torched the Panthers’ second- and third-team defenses for two touchdown passes and three overall TDs in six possessions. (Three possessions against the Carolina first-team defense resulted in a punt, a turnover on downs, and a punt.)
After the first quarter, Sanders settled down and asserted his renowned throwing accuracy and command of his team under the lights. But he didn’t alter the script pre-written by Stefanski and his offensive coaches.
Sanders wasn’t promoted on the Browns’ depth chart – they list him fourth – and he continued to practice with the second and third teams.
Which brings up Dillon Gabriel, the other rookie QB, who barely outpoints the totally disrespected Pickett on the Browns’ fans Q meter.
To the millions of Sanders’ zealots – and, yes, there are that many -- Gabriel is viewed as an entitled higher Berry draft pick (third round) who undeservedly is taking away reps from the obvious and inevitable franchise savior, Shedeur Sanders.
But inside the Browns coaching and personnel offices, Gabriel is still considered a viable option to earn the QB2 role – pending Pickett’s health -- ahead of Sanders.
How that plays out depends a lot on what happens here this week.
Gabriel had two bad days of practices right around the time Sanders took a day off with a sore arm. That was enough for him to be buried by fans and media as a nuisance to Sanders rather than a legit competitor.
After the two bad days, Gabriel suffered hamstring tightness, which opened the door for Sanders to get the start against the inferior Panthers.
Gabriel returned to full practice on Monday and now has his chance to make a run at QB2 and further tick off Sanders’ legions of admirers.
If he is able to fully participate in the joint practices against the Eagles, Gabriel probably would get the start against the defending champions’ second-team defense in the game on Saturday. If Gabriel does well, it doesn’t clinch anything. It likely would merely extend the backup competition into the Rams’ week and perhaps beyond.
The pressure was on Sanders last week. Now it’s on Gabriel.
Like in 2023, there’s no way to predict how this Browns’ season will turn out other than this fact: It’s all about the quarterbacks.