The Cleveland Browns are about to turn to a rookie.
Notably, Dillon Gabriel might be the anti-Joe Flacco.
While they’re both traditional pocket passers and not mobile quarterbacks who’ll beat the opposition with their legs, their approach to passing is quite the opposite.
As pointed out by Mac Blank, Gabriel rarely, if ever, slings the football down the field.
He only had 48 attempts of 20+ yards in his final year in college.
This isn’t to say he can’t but the biggest problem with his game is lack of throws down the field
Last year he had only 48 attempts of 20+ yards
ADOT was 7 (.09yds < Shedeur)
Gabriel has to push the ball downfield or defenses will condense the field
pic.twitter.com/Wo0A0L0wFG— Mac🦬 (@tha_buffalo) October 1, 2025
Nevertheless, that’s not to say that he can’t do it.
There’s plenty of footage of him finding his receivers in stride, and while he’s clearly not the biggest guy out there, he has the arm strength to get it done.
Gabriel isn’t the most exciting prospect by any means.
But he played in three different offenses and spent six years in college, so he’s pretty familiar with multiple systems and has seen all types of coverages.
He has a great understanding of the game and knows how to read a defense.
The bar might be the lowest it’s ever been in Cleveland, and the Browns just need him to play mistake-free football.
As long as he doesn’t turn the ball over, this defense should be good enough to hold down the fort and help this team win a lot of football games.
But of course, if he gets the green light, he should definitely try to make some deep throws, especially considering that opposing defenses might not be expecting him to do so very often.
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