Gabriel's 3 TD Half Forces Browns Into a QB Call
Dillon Gabriel threw three touchdowns before halftime against New England and made Todd Monken's roster math a lot harder with cutdown day a day away.
Gabriel forced Todd Monken's hand on cutdown weekend
Dillon Gabriel went 12 of 15 for 186 yards and three touchdowns Thursday against New England, all three scores landing before halftime, and turned what was supposed to be a quiet finale into the exact problem Todd Monken didn't need on the eve of cuts. Deshaun Watson is the starter and Shedeur Sanders is locked in behind him, which means Gabriel and rookie Taylen Green are now fighting over what amounts to one roster spot with the league's 6 p.m. Sunday deadline bearing down. ESPN's Jeremy Fowler has already flagged "a very real chance" Cleveland keeps three quarterbacks, with Gabriel serving as the No. 3 or drawing outside interest if the Browns move him instead.
#Browns Todd Monken’s final thoughts on Dillon Gabriel and Taylen Green heading into the roster cuts on Sunday:
Monken isn't hiding that it's a real decision — he told reporters this week the Browns are going to have to "cut it down" because they "can't keep everybody," per Athlon Sports, and Mary Kay Cabot's video from Friday's session shows him still working through it, calling the Gabriel-Green math something he's wrestling with "somewhat." Green, for his part, isn't making it easy to cut him loose — he told reporters this week he wants to stay in Cleveland, according to Yahoo Sports, a week after rushing eight times for 66 yards to go with 27 passing yards in the same Patriots game. Whatever Monken decides, one of these two finds out where he stands within hours of this column running, and Barstool Bush's own breakdown of the QB battle lays out why Gabriel made this so hard on him.
Browns close the preseason 1-2 with a 37-13 finale win
Cleveland finishes the preseason 1-2 after Thursday's 37-13 win over New England, and the box score undersells how lopsided it actually was for a half. Gabriel's three touchdowns did the heavy lifting, but Green's own two-way night — five of seven passing for 27 yards and 66 yards on eight carries — gave Monken a second problem to go with the first. Andre Szmyt made all three of his field-goal attempts and went 4 for 4 on extra points, and tight end Carsen Ryan, working through a foot issue, caught both of his targets for nine yards — a clean way for a specialist and a depth piece to end camp.
Bears10-34
Bills7-31
Patriots37-13The two losses that preceded it, 34-10 at the Bears on August 15 and 31-7 to the Bills at home on August 22, mean almost nothing now that the roster which opens the regular season looks nothing like the one that lost those games. Quinshon Judkins and Harold Fannin Jr. didn't play at all Thursday, healthy scratches heading into cuts rather than anything to worry about. The finale didn't settle a scoreboard question — it settled who forced their way into Monken's actual decision-making, and that was Gabriel more than anyone else on the field.
Jared Verse is already running this defense
The June trade that sent Myles Garrett to the Rams for Jared Verse and three future draft picks didn't sit easily with Verse at first — he admitted it "was upsetting" and that he was "upset for a good little bit of time" after landing on a rebuilding roster, per Bleacher Report and FOX Sports. That's not where he is now. Linebacker Carson Schwesinger said this week that Verse left his very first practice with the group raving that "that boy can fly," and new edge rusher Derek Barnett was asked directly this week what it's like lining up next to him — the kind of question a defense doesn't get asked about a player who hasn't shown anything yet.
#Browns LB Carson Schwesinger on the impact of Jared Verse and Quincy Williams
Schwesinger himself is a bigger story than the trade around him at the moment: he spent most of camp working on his own with trainers over an injury he wouldn't name, is now listed questionable, and Zac Jackson of The Athletic reports he's set to practice Saturday. Mary Kay Cabot noted Friday that Verse was resting on the sideline for practice since the team is "mostly in regular season mode," with the media locked out after early drills. A defense that spent the summer absorbing the loss of a reigning Defensive Player of the Year looks, six days from Jacksonville, like it may have found the exchange rate.
A cutdown-day roster gets a clean Jaguars team right out of the gate
Cleveland opens the season Sunday afternoon in Jacksonville against a Jaguars team that just closed its own preseason 2-1, including a 19-0 shutout of the Buccaneers in its finale. Jacksonville enters Year 2 under Liam Coen with Trevor Lawrence entrenched as the starter and Nick Mullens behind him — about as low-drama a quarterback room as there is in the building the Browns are trying to sort out this weekend.
The Browns open as an underdog at EverBank Stadium, with the line opening at 7.5 points and the total set at 40.5 — a number that reads low-scoring for a Week 1 game. Whichever quarterback room Monken settles on by Sunday night, it'll be making its first start of the year on the road against a team that already knows exactly who its own is.