The Cleveland Browns offense continues to struggle after scoring just 13 points in a blowout road loss to the New England Patriots on Sunday, October 26.
Head coach Kevin Stefanski said following the game that the team will stay with Dillon Gabriel as the starter against the New York Jets on November 9 following its upcoming bye week.
“Browns coach Kevin Stefanski told reporters the team will stick with QB Dillon Gabriel after the bye,” NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported.
How ownership feels about that decision remains to be seen, though Jimmy Haslam spoke publicly with Dianna Russini of The Athletic about the quarterback situation late last week and said that the three-game sample for Gabriel wasn’t enough to get a true sense of who he is as a player.
Gabriel completed 21-of-35 passes for 156 yards, two TDs and two INTs against New England Sunday in the fourth start of his career, which hasn’t changed Stefanski’s mind about a switch to fellow rookie signal-caller Shedeur Sanders. Gabriel has completed 59.8% of his pass attempts for 702 yards, five TDs and two INTs across six games played in 2025.
But how Haslam might feel about Gabriel following another lackluster performance is potentially a different matter, particularly given his statement on Sanders earlier in the week.
“Listen, he’s a serious football player, and inside the building, there’s no noise,” Haslam told Russini. “He comes to work every day just like everybody else, and he’s trying to get better as a football player.”
Shedeur Sanders Inactive Against Patriots With Back Injury
GettyQuarterback Shedeur Sanders of the Cleveland Browns.
Sanders was inactive against the Patriots Sunday after he reported back stiffness to the team on Saturday morning.
The injury news and the team’s subsequent designation of Sanders sparked rumors about an impending trade, however Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com shut down those rumors via a report over the weekend.
“Social media speculation ran rampant on Saturday when the Browns added Sanders to the injury report as questionable for the Patriots game with back tightness,” Cabot wrote. “But the soreness is legitimate, and the Browns have no plans to trade Sanders, even though he’s not getting any first-team reps in practice, and might not see the field for awhile.”
Browns Plan to Draft QB in 2026 Regardless of How Well Dillon Gabriel, Shedeur Sanders Play
GettyQuarterback Dillon Gabriel of the Cleveland Browns.
One thing that absolutely is true is that the Browns intend to eventually give Sanders a shot to start so they can see what kind of player fell to them in the early portion of the fifth round back in April, it just isn’t going to happen against the Jets two weeks from now.
Another near certainty is that regardless of how well Gabriel or Sanders play over the course of 2025, Cleveland is going to select a rookie signal-caller in the first round of the 2026 NFL draft.
“I do think the Browns will draft a quarterback in the first round of the 2026 draft with one or both of their first-round picks, their own and/or the Jaguars from the 2025 draft day trade,” Cabot wrote Sunday. “The Browns have been heavily scouting the top quarterbacks such as Oregon’s Dante Moore, Alabama’s Ty Simpson and South Carolina’s Lanorris Sellers. They’re in need of a franchise QB, and will undoubtedly take one in this class, even if Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders show great promise.”
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