Dillon Gabriel is not shying away from some friendly competition at the Cleveland Browns’ rookie camp.
Gabriel is the highest-drafted quarterback at the Browns’ rookie minicamp, which began on Friday. But he’s far from the highest-profile QB in attendance. That goes to Shedeur Sanders by a significant margin.
The Browns picked Gabriel 94th overall in the third round of last month’s draft. Despite already adding the Oregon product into a crowded QB room, Cleveland also selected Sanders 50 picks later.
On Saturday, Gabriel spoke candidly with reporters about the Browns selecting Sanders.
“Yeah, I love it,” Gabriel said, via Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. “You know, I love it because of who it is. I think just for us both, you can learn from one another. But also, it’s not just us two in the room. At least for right now [during rookie minicamp] is, but, you know, going into the year, Kenny [Pickett], Joe [Flacco] and even Deshaun [Watson], just a bunch of guys who played a bunch of ball that we can all learn from one another.”
On its face, Gabriel’s answer seems a little surprising. He already has three veteran QBs ahead of him in Kenny Pickett, Joe Flacco, and the injured Deshaun Watson. Adding Sanders into the mix further complicated Gabriel’s path to becoming an NFL starter.
At the same time, it’s hard to imagine Gabriel saying anything else. If the Oregon alum actually felt a certain way about the Sanders pick, admitting to it would only make him look bitter. He would also likely create a rift between himself and Shedeur in the process.
There’s already been buzz about which QB, Gabriel or Sanders, has been taking the Browns’ first-team reps thus far at rookie minicamp. One wrong quote to the media could send negative off-field attention Gabriel’s way.
