Rookie Dillon Gabriel made his first NFL start in Sunday’s loss to Minnesota.
The third-rounder with the impressive college football résumé kept Cleveland alive until the final seconds in London.
Time will tell if Gabriel or fellow rookie Shedeur Sanders makes a strong claim to a job the franchise could quickly address again in the 2026 offseason.
If the Cleveland Browns eventually look back at the 2025 NFL season as the jumping-off point to the relevance that’s evaded this franchise for decades, then they will likely pinpoint their rookie class − if not first-year quarterbacks Dillon Gabriel or Shedeur Sanders − as the reason.
Gabriel, the third-round pick with the standout college football résumé, made his first professional start Sunday in London – the first passer to ever make his QB1 debut overseas. He was solid, if unspectacular, in a 21-17 loss to the Minnesota Vikings, completing 19 of 33 pass attempts for 190 yards and two touchdowns. Whether that’s sufficient to install him as the starter for the long run will likely remain an open question. And Gabriel knows it.
‘There’s always something to build on, no moral victories whatsoever,’ he said following the defeat.
In the near term, Gabriel was made to order for a squad that entered Sunday with one win, the second-fewest points (56) and most turnovers (8) in the league. And while the Browns continued to manufacture points as if there would be a reciprocal tariff applied for exporting them to the United Kingdom, Gabriel did just about everything else his team needed – and against a nasty, multi-dimensional Minnesota defense – in order to grind out a win.
The Browns didn’t turn the ball over once. They were balanced offensively after passing more than 65% of the time in September with former Super Bowl MVP Joe Flacco at the helm. Sunday brought sustained drives that not only mixed up the team’s formula but kept its top-ranked defense off the field – and fresh – for half the game.
‘Composed, making the plays that we know he can make,’ All-Pro Browns defensive end Myles Garrett said of Gabriel.
‘He put us in position to win. We’ve gotta help ourselves out.’
Now let’s pause to talk about the Cleveland rookies who aren’t taking snaps from center.
Defensive tackle Mason Graham, the fifth overall pick of this year’s draft, and second-round linebacker Carson Schwesinger – at his current pace, he’ll be a strong contender to be Defensive Rookie of the Year – appear as if they’ll be mainstays well beyond Garrett’s tenure.
Offensively, second-round tailback Quinshon Judkins came into the game averaging 79 rushing yards per game – most among the league’s rookies – then broke off a career-high 110 against the Vikings. Third-round tight end Harold Fannin Jr. leads the team with 21 catches and caught a TD pass from Gabriel on Sunday. Fourth-rounder Dylan Sampson has been an effective receiving threat coming out of the backfield. Undrafted wideout Isaiah Bond, a quicksilver receiver who almost surely would have been a Day 2 draft pick if not for legal issues, is earning an increasingly larger role in the offense.
Sanders, the highly scrutinized son of Hall of Famer Deion Sanders who infamously fell into the draft’s fifth round for seemingly myriad reasons, hasn’t played a snap this season … nor uttered a word since Gabriel’s promotion.
It remains to be seen when − or if − that changes. Gabriel, who established FBS records for touchdowns generated (190) and starts (63) at his three college stops, protected the ball Sunday. He appeared poised. Unlike Flacco, he was able to make plays on the move. He typically got rid of the rock quickly and chucked it out of bounds on plays that had little chance of success – all likely on the wise advice and/or game plan provided by two-time Coach of the Year Kevin Stefanski.
‘I’m pretty sure they told him, ‘Listen, just take what they give you, don’t create negative plays, don’t try to do too much. Don’t be a hero,” Vikings edge rusher Jonathan Greenard said of Gabriel. ‘I think he did just that.
‘The kid has a pretty good arm. He’s going to be good.’
Yet Stefanski was mum on Gabriel’s impact.
‘Probably premature to grade,’ he said. ‘There were some good things, some rookie things to certainly clean up.’
Missing Sunday? Explosive plays. Gabriel hit Bond downfield for a 22-yard completion, otherwise everything in the passing game was of the short variety – though that makes sense against a Vikings defense known to generate pressure and take the ball away from the league’s most-experienced QBs. However a 3-for-15 conversion rate on third down won’t cut it.
Offensive coordinator Tommy Rees said in the days leading up to the game that he and Stefanski pivoted to Gabriel as ‘a way to spark the offense and get things going.’
Maybe Gabriel didn’t set the world on fire, but he also didn’t torch the chances of the Browns, who led the game until their vaunted defense allowed the go-ahead touchdown with 25 seconds to play.
It’s a good first step, if not one that will keep Sanders in mothballs indefinitely. The former Colorado star showed flashes of his estimable ability to throw the ball in preseason but also called his own maturity into question (again) Wednesday while miming answers to reporters seeking insight into Gabriel’s opportunity.
Regardless, the Browns, one of four teams to never reach the Super Bowl, move forward with what seems like a strong foundation. It just remains to be seen if it will be further fortified by more position players when next year’s pair of first-round picks are spent … or yet another would-be face of the franchise quarterback.