The Browns came into training camp with a quarterback battle that already felt complicated before a single snap was taken. Deshaun Watson was trying to show he still had something left after nearly two years away from real game action. Shedeur Sanders was looking to build on a rocky rookie season and take a real step forward in Year 2. And Dillon Gabriel? He was supposed to be the depth piece — there in case things went sideways.

But five practices in, things already have.

Gabriel's played well enough that he can’t just be brushed off anymore.

For a franchise that has spent most of the last 25 years searching for even average quarterback play, that might sound like good news. In reality, it’s made an already tricky situation even more complicated. The Browns didn’t need another name in the mix — they needed one of the top two quarterbacks to separate and make the decision easy.

Instead, Watson threw six interceptions across the first four practices. Sanders has been more stable and has clearly moved ahead, but he still hasn’t fully taken control of the job. And meanwhile, Gabriel's continued to stack solid reps with the second and third units to the point where head coach Todd Monken had no choice but to take notice:

If that continues, we’ll continue to up his reps. He’s earned that.

The question now is simple — and a lot harder to answer: where exactly are those extra reps supposed to come from?

Gabriel Earned The Part Cleveland Didn’t Plan To Give Him

Gabriel's still QB3 on the depth chart. Watson and Sanders are rotating days with the first-team offense, and sixth-round rookie Taylen Green is sitting fourth in a room that somehow feels crowded again, even after Cleveland already lived through a five-quarterback mess last year.

But here’s the thing — Gabriel’s spot on the list doesn’t really match how people inside the building are talking about him right now. He’s been steady through the first few practices, earned a few extra reps on Monday, and even got some work behind the first-team offensive line. At one point he was even QB2 in a seven-on-seven period, which might sound small, but matters a lot when every throw is being rationed out.

And when he got that chance, he didn’t waste it. Gabriel rolled left and hit Harold Fannin Jr. across the field for what was probably his best throw of camp so far during the first padded practice.

That came right after Monken praised his anticipation on a bench route earlier in the week and said he was “functioning at a high level.” The coaching staff has also kept pointing out how prepared he is, like he’s already expecting first-team reps even when he’s not getting them.

There’s even a little buzz building outside the building too. Former NFL defensive lineman Breiden Fehoko said he’s heard the best quarterback in Browns camp might not be Watson or Sanders. That’s secondhand, so you take it for what it is, but it doesn’t come out of nowhere either.

Gabriel’s whole approach is pretty much what you’d expect if you’ve followed his path from UCF to Oklahoma to Oregon. He’s not trying to win a quarterback battle by talking his way into it or being the loudest guy in the room. He’s more of a “stay in my lane, do my job” type.

That said, it’s also important not to overdo it here. Gabriel didn’t exactly light the league on fire as a rookie. He went 1-5 in six starts, completed 59.5% of his passes, and averaged just 5.1 yards per attempt. On paper it looks fine — seven touchdowns, two picks — but the deeper numbers tell a different story. He had just three big-time throws, finished near the bottom of the league in PFF grade, and the Browns’ passing game was basically underwater when he was on the field.

A lot of it was safe football in the worst way. He avoided turnovers, sure, but he also didn’t really punish defenses. He only completed two passes of 20+ air yards all season, and his longest completion was just 26 yards. That’s not stretching a defense with NFL speed.

Still, there's something to work with. He was noticeably better in the short-to-intermediate game, especially between 10 and 19 yards, where he threw four touchdowns and no picks. He gets the offense lined up quickly, processes things on time, and doesn’t panic when the picture changes. In Monken’s system — where a lot of the job is pre-snap reads, protections, and getting everyone in the right place — that kind of steady, mental reliability is what they're looking for.

He’s not the guy who’s going to flip a game on its head with one throw. He’s more like a point guard than a superstar scorer.

Every Choice Would Be An Admission

Watson was supposed to be the guy who raised the ceiling of this whole thing. The reason Cleveland kept kicking the financial can down the road with his contract wasn’t because they thought he might end up as a camp arm. It was because, at least in theory, he was supposed to be the answer.

He’s still on a fully guaranteed $46 million deal this year, and the Browns reworked it into bonuses back in March just to free up about $36 million in cap space. So yeah, they’re still paying for it — just in a more complicated, spreadsheet-friendly way.

But this hasn’t worked in a while. Watson's played in just 19 games since getting to Cleveland in 2022. His last real snap came in October 2024, when he tore his Achilles. Then it tore again during rehab, which wiped out his entire 2025 season. He says he finally feels healthy again, which is good — but feeling healthy and playing like the guy we saw in Houston are two very different things.

Sanders is a different kind of argument entirely. His rookie year had real spikes — like that 364-yard, four-touchdown explosion against Tennessee — but it also came with plenty of “welcome to the NFL” bruises. He finished with a 56.6% completion rate, seven touchdowns, 10 interceptions, and 23 sacks, plus a 68.1 passer rating. Cleveland only went 3-4 in his starts. The talent is obvious, and he’s clearly more willing than Gabriel to attack downfield windows, but that same aggressiveness is also what fed a lot of the negative plays that stalled drives and flipped field position.

The Year 2 hope is pretty straightforward: keep the aggression, lose the self-inflicted damage. Monken has talked about Sanders’ feel for the game, and offensive coordinator Travis Switzer said his footwork and processing speed have already taken a step forward. You can see why they’re still intrigued. Even on Monday, he finished strong — worked a pass interference call, hit a sideline throw, then dropped a 22-yard touchdown in the two-minute drill. That’s the version of him they’re trying to sharpen, not reinvent.

There’s still more upside there than what Gabriel showed as a rookie. The only real surprise is that the gap between them has gotten this small this fast.

If Sanders wins, it’s a bet on development finally catching up to talent. If Watson wins, it’s a bet on a comeback that still feels more like a storyline than a solution. And if Gabriel wins, it’s the most functional outcome — but also the most awkward, because it means the “depth guy” outplayed both of the more hyped names.

Either way, none of it really screams “problem solved.”

The Next Reps Will Carry More Weight

Monken has been pretty steady about not losing his mind over early camp stuff, which honestly is the only sane way to handle this. They’re still installing the offense, still figuring out who can actually line up and run it without everything falling apart. He’s made it clear the real picture won’t even start to come into focus until they’re fully installed, the pads are on every day, and they’re not just throwing against their own guys in Berea anymore.

The preseason opener in Chicago on Aug. 15th, the joint practice with Buffalo on Aug. 20th, and then the Bills game right after that are going to tell them way more than anything happening in a clean little seven-on-seven drill in shorts.

The issue is simple but annoying: Gabriel can’t really prove anything unless he’s actually on the field. And every time he gets bumped up for more meaningful reps, that’s one less snap for Watson or Sanders to sort themselves out.

And yeah, the context matters here too. Watson and Sanders have mostly been working against the first-team defense, which has been giving everybody a rough time early on. Gabriel’s best work has come against second- and third-string guys who are basically fighting for their jobs.

This is where camp always gets a little messy. In July, it feels like everything is clean and fair and whoever plays best will just win the job. By August, it’s never that simple. Guys notice who’s taking the first reps. You don’t need everyone to agree on the quarterback, but you do need the room to know who the guy is.

Right now, Cleveland doesn’t have that.

There’s an old NFL saying that if you’ve got two quarterbacks, you’ve got no quarterback. Cleveland’s sitting here with three guys who all have a real argument, plus a rookie they just drafted.

All stats courtesy of NFL Pro.

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