In the time leading up to the NFL draft, when the Browns probably reached a bit into the third round to grab Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel, there were several items about his potential that came up in just about every scouting report that emerged from him. He was undersize, of course, but also experienced and a very quick processor. Gabriel was conservative–he did not gamble down the field much–but, as one site wrote, he “throws with reliable accuracy and ball placement.”
To which Browns fans who have watched Gabriel start five games, and anyone who watched the debacle against the Jets in New York in Week 10, would say, “Oh reaaallllly?”
Gabriel threw high in that game. He threw low. He threw wide. In all, he was 17-for-32 against a fairly slap-dash secondary that had just seen its best player, Sauce Gardner, traded away days earlier. In all, Gabriel’s completion percentage sits at 56.8% this season, which ranks 32nd in the NFL.
Browns Dillon Gabriel: ‘It’ll Always Be Like That’
So, in addition to downfield throws not being his thing, short-yardage accuracy doesn’t seem to be his thing, either. This is why most of the Browns’ press conferences with coach Kevin Stefanski feature reporters asking, in as many veiled ways as possible, “What do the Browns see in this guy?”
Gabriel himself was asked about the accuracy issues this week. He said he hopes to improve, blessedly.
“It’s always something you continue to work on and want to get good at, and I think it’s striving for every inch, you know, and being able to catch runners and allow them to get more receiving yards after the catch,” Gabriel said. “So being accurate in that way and then giving guys a chance. So it’s something that you want to pride yourself on, continue to get better at.”
Asked if there were throws against the Jets he wished he could have back he said, “It’ll always be like that.”
Dillon Gabriel Not Having Mechanical Issues
Gabriel was asked, too, what is going on with his misses. Are the Browns seeing anything mechanical with his throws that he could fix. In a way, that might make the difficulty with accuracy more palatable, if there was an obvious hitch that could be fixed and push his completion percentage back up to where it was in college (72.9% last season).
Gabriel said it’s more mental than mechanical, though.
“Not overthinking it, but you just miss,” Gabriel said. “You know, sometimes you miss and you want to eliminate as many as you can. And definitely when you know you lose, it’s magnifying. And I think you’re always going to continue to work on that and that’s something you want to pride yourself on – which is making the throws.”
Browns Living With Inaccuracy
It was a topic that Stefanski, too, was peppered on. But the Browns coach had no more satisfying answers than Gabriel did. The rookie quarterback missed throws, Stefanski said, because quarterbacks miss throws.
“Any quarterback, young and old – you’re going to miss throws,” he said. “It’s an occupational hazard that you’re likely not going to go 100% completion percentage. It’s an occupational hazard that a corner is going to get beat deep every once in a while. So, you’re not going to make every throw.”
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