Cleveland Browns quarterback Dillon Gabriel exited Sunday’s 23-16 loss to the Baltimore Ravens with a concussion, giving fellow rookie Shedeur Sanders his first taste of NFL play.
Sanders completed just 4 of 16 passes for 47 yards and one interception while playing with the first-team offense for the first time, including practice sessions. Sanders was sacked twice, fumbling on one of them with the Browns recovering.
The biggest problem: Cleveland didn’t score with Sanders running the offense. His passer rating was just 13.5.
“I don’t think I played good at all,” Sanders said after the game. “There are lot of things we need to look at during the week and go get comfortable throwing routes to all those guys. That was my first balls to them all year.”
Gabriel’s status for next week’s road game against the Las Vegas Raiders will be determined during the week.
Cleveland coach Kevin Stefanski said Gabriel will start if he is healthy.
“Yes, but there’s obvious that protocol, a lot goes into that. We’ll see,” Stefanski said after the Browns fell to 2-8.
Gabriel was a third-round pick in the 2025 draft and Sanders was selected in the fifth round, way later than he expected after being a college standout at Colorado. He is the son of Hall of Famer Deion Sanders.
Cleveland entered training camp with four quarterbacks, including veterans Kenny Pickett and Joe Flacco. Pickett was traded before the season to the Raiders and Flacco opened the campaign as the Cleveland starter before being dealt to the Cincinnati Bengals on Oct. 7, two days after Gabriel started in his place.
Asked about Sanders’ debut performance, Stefanski took a middle-of-the-road approach.
“Look, we trust our guys to perform. He’s no different,” Stefanski said. “Playing a backup quarterback role, that’s tough to come in there but we trust him. I know there’s things that he’s going to want to do better but that’s why we work.”
Sanders said he’s looking forward to throwing with all the receivers and tight ends in practice this week. He said he wants another chance to play.
“The most I can ask for is the opportunity,” Sanders said. “They gave me the opportunity. I didn’t do up to my expectations, didn’t do enough to get us the win.”
