The competition at the Cleveland Browns’ rookie minicamp is heating up. With Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders putting on their best plays to catch the eye of head coach Kevin Stefanski, analysts give Deion Sanders’ son the edge in the race for the starting job.
Rookie minicamp has come and gone, giving Stefanski’s coaching staff their first look at what their depth chart could look like for the 2025 NFL season. Early reports were divided, but a slight majority of experts give Sanders the edge over Gabriel.
Although Gabriel was taken in the third round of this year’s draft and Sanders slipped to the fifth, some analysts saw the latter as far superior to his new teammate in his first opportunity to throw the ball for Stefanski and offensive coordinator Tommy Rees.
The Shedeur-Dillon race divides the media
The Athletic insider Zac Jackson was full of praise for Sanders in this first practice. “Just throwing the ball, it’s not close – [it’s] Shedeur Sanders,” Jackson said. “I’m impressed with the way Shedeur threw the ball… This is what an NFL quarterback is supposed to look like.”
However, Jackson was quick to point out that this was just training camp. “No pads, no full-speed competition, nobody coming to knock your head off,” the reporter added. Furthermore, other observers asserted that Gabriel looked better in this first practice.
“I thought, [on] both days, Dillon Gabriel looked a little bit better,” said Tony Grossi of 850 ESPN Cleveland. “He throws a tight spiral, he throws a beautiful ball, he’s very assertive. He knows the pocket. You could tell that even though they’re not rushing, he’s just has a pocket presence,” Grossi assured.
There is respect between Sanders and Gabriel
The rivals, for their part, have done nothing but show respect for each other. “I love it. You know, I love it because who it is,” Gabriel said about the competition with Sanders. “I think just for us both, you can learn from one another.”
Sanders praised Gabriel’s good disposition by saying, “He’s a really cool guy overall. You could tell he always have a great mood. He’s always in a good mood. I only been around two days, though, but he always has a great mood.”
With training camp just around the corner, we’ll soon know who’s ahead on the depth chart, or even who’s left off the team, given that there are three other quarterbacks in Cleveland: Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett, and Deshaun Watson, all competing for the starting job.
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