Kevin Stefanski on Dillon Gabriel: All of our players are competing for starting jobs

The Browns resisted taking a quarterback with their first four selections this year, but their final pick on Friday broke the trend.

Dillon Gabriel became the fifth quarterback off the board late in the third round in a move that gave the Browns three quarterbacks on their depth chart and continued the plunge of Shedeur Sanders after pre-draft hype painted him as a possible first-round pick. General Manager Andrew Berry declined to comment on why Sanders has gone unpicked, but said Gabriel has “a really well-rounded game” after playing at UCF, Oklahoma and Oregon.

Gabriel had success in those stops, but is short for an NFL quarterback. Berry said he didn’t feel it held Gabriel back in college and head coach Kevin Stefanski concurred while adding that finding ways to overcome any deficiencies “comes innately, I think, to players based on how they’ve kind of played the game their whole life.” Stefanski was also asked if Gabriel will join Joe Flacco and Kenny Pickett in the competition for the starting role.

“I think all of our players are competing for starting jobs,” Stefanski said, via a transcript from the team. “But the most important part for any player walking into our building is really focusing on the work that it’s going to entail, because, as you know, it’s a lot coming at these guys early. So, we’ll get our hands on them in a couple of weekends at the rookie minicamp. But we anticipate all of our players to carve out a role, whether that’s as a starter, as a backup, and it’s really no different here.”

Gabriel said in his own press conference that he only knows how to be a starter and will be focused on “creating value and creating impact” any way he can once he joins the Browns.