It’s official: Dillon Gabriel plays football on Sunday. I will always remember Joe Flacco fondly for what he did in 2023, and he can still throw a beautiful ball, but as soon as he’s under pressure, it’s obvious that his body just can’t keep up anymore. Moving on was definitely the right choice. With that being said, though, this is not an ideal scenario for a rookie quarterback making his first meaningful appearance in an NFL game. We’re flying to London to play the Minnesota Vikings, who have allowed the third-least passing yards to opposing teams this season, and Cedric Tillman is once again on Injured Reserve – so Gabriel and fellow rookie Quinshon Judkins will likely be headlining a run-heavy offense on Sunday morning.
What does Dillon starting mean for the franchise?
Very simply, it means that we’re still trying to win and that we’ve realized that Flacco can’t help us do that. Joe was just not playing good enough football – and there’s no point in not trying to win games when our defense could bring most teams to a Super Bowl. He was always meant to be a bridge quarterback until either Shedeur or Dillon were ready, but our defense is so good that keeping the veteran on the field is unfair to the rest of the team – no matter how much it may benefit the rookies. If we know that Joe Flacco can’t win us games (and we do), then we owe it to Jim Schwartz and company to find out whether somebody else can. At this point in the season, seeing how our third-round pick looks under center is more beneficial to the team and its future than trotting a 40-year-old man out to get his steps in every Sunday. The front office is willing to let the rookie take over from here, and even if he doesn’t play well, it’s a good opportunity to see Dillon’s starting point and how he adapts to playing in the big leagues. It was always the plan for Gabriel to take over eventually, and Flacco’s rough start to the season probably just sped up the timeline.
It also means that the roster itself moved on from Joe. They’ve seen what he can do and they know that we can’t win games without moving the ball downfield. In the 4th quarter of our game against Detroit, it was clear that the players had given up – and when that happens, a change needs to be made. Don’t get me wrong, Flacco can still throw the hell out of a football. But he can’t run, and with the offensive line as bad and as banged up as it’s been, mobility is a job requirement. I doubt the team as a whole had any say in the coaches’ decision, but starting a QB who the team doesn’t believe in – or moving on from one that they do – is a good way for the coaches to lose the locker room, too.
Lastly, and this is purely speculation, it could mean that Kevin Stefanski is getting worried about his job security. Nobody expected the Browns to bench Flacco this quickly going into the year, and an international game in Week 5 obviously wasn’t Stefanski’s initial plan for Dillon Gabriel’s debut. A lot of it definitely does have to do with the fact that Flacco is playing worse than anticipated, of course, and I doubt that Stefanski is listening to the pressure from the fans calling for his head. If he’s feeling pressure, it’s from the Haslams – I’m not sure whether they outright threatened to fire him, but he should know that there’s too much talent on this roster to end up with another top-10 pick next year. He should be worried about his job, because we should be better than we are.
As for Shedeur Sanders, I hope he never sees the field for us. I don’t mean that in a negative way at all, as I truly think he’s talented, but the best-case scenario for us is that we’ve finally found our franchise QB in Dillon Gabriel. He’ll get at least 4 (but more likely 7-10) of our remaining 13 games to prove himself, and I’d wager that Sanders won’t get called up to get his chance until we’ve either secured our playoff spot or been eliminated.
Can Dillon Gabriel move the ball better than Joe Flacco?
The most important thing about this weekend, in my opinion, is the answer to that question. I don’t expect too much to happen through the air, and Kevin Stefanski will likely try to keep the ball on the ground as much as possible to ease the rookie into things against a very good defense. Gabriel won’t be breaking any passing records as a result, but what we should be looking at is his decision-making: whether he makes the right reads and progressions, how quickly he releases the ball, how he stands in (and escapes) the pocket, et cetera. If Dillon Gabriel can consistently make NFL-level decisions and take what’s given, it’s a great sign – and if he can move the ball better than Joe Flacco did, then the team is in good hands.
Again, don’t expect 300 yards from the rookie. This isn’t the 2024 Washington Commanders. It’s a third-round pick throwing to a receiving core that averages multiple drops a game, and he’s playing against a defense that has allowed just 151.5 passing yards per matchup this season. There will be mistakes, there will be incompletions, and that’s okay.
Despite the quarterback change (and maybe even because of it), I’m confident that the Browns will bring a win home from overseas. People have been saying it all season long: our defense is good enough that all we need is decent quarterback play to become a very dangerous playoff team. I agree with those people, and I firmly believe that Dillon Gabriel is – at the very least – a decent quarterback. We don’t need to see the second coming of Tom Brady take the field on Sunday morning. All we need to see from DG and the rest of our offense is solid football: finding ways to stay on the field, finding ways to move the chains, and finding ways to put points on the board.
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