Dillon Gabriel will start at quarterback for the Cleveland Browns in Week 5, but the announcement was somewhat upstaged by Shedeur Sanders’ response to it. That does not seem to be a problem Gabriel is worried about.
Sanders garnered attention for pantomiming his answers to questions about remaining the Browns’ No. 3 quarterback despite Gabriel’s promotion to starter (video here). On Friday, Gabriel was asked about Sanders’ response, and he artfully dodged the question.
“None,” Gabriel told Mary Kay Cabot of cleveland.com when asked what impact Sanders’ interview had on him. “I don’t want to speak for anyone, but for me it’s like ‘hey, we’re a team, we do this together as a unit.’ We can only control what we can control. I don’t want to speak for anyone in particular.”
Gabriel’s response might partially illustrate why the Browns have him ahead of Sanders on the depth chart. He did not add fuel to the situation and sought to avoid inflaming any tensions. Whether Sanders meant to or not, the way he conducted his interview only brought more attention to himself and his own involvement in the situation.
The only time Gabriel has really gotten in trouble with the media since being drafted was giving a quote that some took as a criticism of Sanders. The full context made clear that was not the case, and Gabriel defused that situation pretty easily. He has not caused any distractions, and the Browns are probably quite happy with that.
