Conventional wisdom and recent history suggest that the Cleveland Browns will likely trade one of their top three quarterbacks before the regular season arrives, and Dillon Gabriel is the obvious candidate.
Deshaun Watson and Shedeur Sanders are engaged in a clear two-person race for the Browns’ starting job, and whichever player loses is going to start the campaign as QB2. Meanwhile, the team took a sixth-round flier on hyper-athletic QB Taylen Green, which points to him sticking around as the third-string option for at least a year or two given the draft asset he cost.
Gabriel was former head coach Kevin Stefanski’s rookie of choice in 2025. But with Stefanski in Atlanta and Todd Monken at the helm in Cleveland, Gabriel’s days in Northeast Ohio appear numbered. And he didn’t help himself during the team’s preseason opener against the Chicago Bears on Saturday, either, going 5-of-8 for 23 yards and one interception.
The most prevalent question is what the market might be like for a player such as Gabriel, widely regarded as a potentially viable backup QB across a multi-year career. As training camps and preseasons play out across the league, that query should naturally solve itself — and one viable option appears already to have developed via the Jacksonville Jaguars.
“Nick Mullens hasn’t been great since May and things bottomed out today,” Ryan O’Halloran of The Florida-Times Union posted to X on Saturday. “Always gets same caveats (back-up OL, back-up skill guys), but lack of pocket awareness — yuck. They won’t do it, but time to explore trade market for No. 2 QB.”
Todd Monken Happy With QB Play During Browns’ Preseason Opener
GettyCleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders.
As for the starting job in Cleveland, Watson was probably a little bit better against the Bears than was Sanders, though both accounted for a turnover during their portion of the snaps.
Despite that, and a 24-point loss in the Windy City, Monken was more than optimistic about what he saw from Sanders and Watson combined in their first action against a non-Cleveland defense.
“I was really pleased with our quarterback play,” Monken said. “To me, it felt like we are gonna be able to throw the football.”
Deshaun Watson in Poll Position for Browns’ Starting QB Job
GettyCleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson.
Monken added that both quarterbacks will play with the first team during joint practice against the Buffalo Bills this week ahead of the Browns’ second preseason game next weekend. They will host the Bills in Cleveland Saturday.
Reports out of Browns camp indicated that Watson was the frontrunner for the starting job heading into the summer opener against Chicago, and so that likely remains unchanged after Watson threw for 126 yards on 11-of-15 passing and lost a fumble. Sanders completed 6-of-11 attempts for 79 yards and one interception.
But regardless of who comes out victorious in the preseason QB battle, both Sanders and Watson are likely to start multiple games in 2026. That said, the Browns may well move on from one, or even both, by next summer. Cleveland is a prime candidate to draft a QB in what analysts almost universally predict will be a strong class at the position in 2027.
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