- The Cleveland Browns are benching veteran quarterback Joe Flacco for rookie Dillon Gabriel.
- Gabriel, a third-round pick, will face a tough Minnesota Vikings defense amid injuries to the Browns’ offensive line.
- Flacco has thrown six interceptions this season, contributing to the team’s offensive woes.
The Cleveland Browns’ highly anticipated changing of the guard at quarterback has arrived, even if the keys to the offense aren’t being handed to the more well-known of the team’s two rookies.
The Browns are benching Joe Flacco and installing Dillon Gabriel as the starter for Sunday’s game against the Minnesota Vikings in London, the team announced on Wednesday.
‘This is not about one person,’ Browns coach Kevin Stefanski said Wednesday. ‘Joe is a captain of this football team. We’re going to need his leadership going forward, as always. … (Dillon has) handled everything well since he’s been on campus here. So just gonna have to support the young man.’
The decision comes on the heels of the Browns falling to 1-3. Flacco, who completed just 16 of 34 passes for 184 yards with two interceptions in his last game, was removed from the contest on the final drive. Gabriel’s lone pass attempt fell incomplete.
After the game, Stefanski brushed off a question of whether he would consider a quarterback change without committing to keeping his veteran signal-caller in place.
‘I understand the question, especially when we are struggling the way we are on offense,’ Stefanski said. ‘But that’s not our focus right now. To have any success on either side of the ball, you need to play well and play together. Right now, we have too many things going wrong, and we all own that. It isn’t because of one player.’
Flacco, 40, has thrown six interceptions, trailing only the Las Vegas Raiders’ Geno Smith for the NFL lead. The Browns rank 31st in the NFL by averaging just 14 points per game.
A third-round pick out of Oregon, Gabriel was installed as the backup at the conclusion of the preseason after Cleveland traded Kenny Pickett to the Raiders. He made his NFL debut at the tail end of a 41-17 loss to the Baltimore Ravens in Week 2, completing all three of his passes for 19 yards and a touchdown.
Fellow rookie Shedeur Sanders remains the emergency quarterback.
Gabriel faces a difficult outlook against a Vikings defense that again ranks in several categories as one of the NFL’s most formidable against the pass. The Browns’ protection plan has been derailed by injuries to left tackle Dawand Jones, who has been ruled out for the remainder of the season with a knee injury, and right tackle Jack Conklin, who has missed the last three games due to an elbow injury. With backups KT Leveston and Cornelius Lucas consistently giving up pressures to opponents, the Browns on Monday acquired Cam Robinson from the Houston Texans in exchange for a 2027 late-round pick swap. Meanwhile, a receiving corps that has also been hit by injuries continued to be plagued by drops in the loss to the Lions.
‘You wait for the perfect time, you’re going to wait a whole life time,’ Gabriel told reporters Wednesday. ‘So for me, I’ve always been ready.’
This story has been updated with new information.