BEREA, Ohio — The Joe Flacco-to-Jerry Jeudy Express was never able to get rolling for the Browns over their first four games of the 2025 season.
But is the Dillon Gabriel-to-Jerry Jeudy Express about to leave the station?
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How Browns quarterback Joe Flacco is handling his demotion to backing up Dillon Gabriel
It’s one of the key offensive questions that 1-3 Cleveland now faces after the team officially announced Wednesday that they are turning to Gabriel as their starting quarterback. Flacco will serve as backup.
The Browns offense as a whole has been stagnant, averaging only 14 points per game (31st) and 279.8 yards (27th).
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As it stands, Jeudy — who made his first Pro Bowl and had his first 1,000-yard season in 2024 — has caught just 13 passes for 182 yards and has no touchdowns in Cleveland’s first four games. He’s tied for second in the NFL with four drops.
But ahead of his first start, Gabriel has the faith they can get back to that kind of production.
“I’m the biggest fan of Jerry,” Gabriel said. “I would be surprised to find anyone that thinks more highly of him than me, just the way he works, the way he attacks his day to day, but how much he loves the game as well.
“He shows his passion and he’s a guy that we’re going to rely on, I’ll continue to rely on and a guy we’ll feed because he’s a big part of what we do. So I think as we continue to build it, it’ll be building reps together and continuity, but I think that that’ll grow as time progresses.”
Jeudy and Flacco had a couple of big miscues against the Lions in Cleveland’s 34-10 Week 4 loss.
In the fourth quarter, Jeudy had a downfield drop on third down as he bobbled the ball to the ground down the left sideline in front of the Browns’ bench. On the ensuing fourth-down punt, the Lions returned it for a touchdown.
Before that, with 4:26 left in the second quarter, Jeudy got knocked down on a route, and cornerback D.J. Reed swiped the pass as he fell with him. The interception survived a review, and Lions QB Jared Goff threw the first of his two TD passes to receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown on the ensuing drive.
On Sunday, Jeudy was adamant that he should have made those plays. On Wednesday, he said he doesn’t dwell on bad performances like that beyond the day of the game.
And now, he’s ready to embrace whatever Cleveland needs them to do with Gabriel running the offense.
“Dillon, he’s a smart dude,” Jeudy said. “He knows where to go with the ball. He knows what the coaching staff wants within the offense. He does a great job of that.”
The Browns will need even more from Jeudy now that their No. 2 receiver, Cedric Tillman, is on IR with a hamstring injury.
Tillman had 11 catches for 106 yards and has caught two of Cleveland’s three passing TDs this season.
Receiver DeAndre Carter, the team’s primary returner, was also placed on IR with a knee injury.
“It’s very important with (Gabriel) getting the first start, so I’m trying to be the best version of myself for him so he could do what he needs to do on the field,” Jeudy said. “With those guys being hurt, I got to step up and the younger guys that’s behind them, got to step up as well and do their part and play their role.”
The Browns also signed undrafted rookie receiver Gage Larvadain to the active roster to help alleviate the receiving room woes.
Larvadain became a star of training camp, finishing the preseason slate with 94 yards on nine catches and one touchdown.
“Super resilient, super confident in his abilities, which is two things that are the recipe for success at quarterback,” Larvadain said of Gabriel. “Obviously we’re both rookies so we did get a lot of reps coming in together. I think he’s prepared for this moment and like I said it’s his time to show the world.”
Maybe no one understands what the receiver room is going through right now better than Gabriel, who has been in a similar position himself over the last four weeks.
“It’s having that mentality of next guy up and everyone being prepared for their moment and uniquely enough, I’m doing the same as them,” Gabriel said. “So I think we’re both in that same position. I keep going back to us coming together and making sure that we continue to do that will be our biggest point of emphasis, because we need to do that. And the more we create positive plays and let that continue to stack on each other, then good things will happen, but small bites at a time.”
The other interesting element of the Browns throwing Gabriel into the fire is the fact that he is a left-handed QB.
For Jeudy, he said there’s no real difference though as a receiver — it also helps that Jeudy played with a lefty quarterback for three seasons at Alabama (2017-19) when he was teamed up with Tua Tagovailoa.
“It just spins the opposite way,” Jeudy said. “Other than that, it’s the same thing.”
In making this change, the Browns have been adamant that it’s about more than one person.
And from what we’ve seen so far, it’s true. While Flacco doesn’t have ideal mobility, he hasn’t been helped by tackle injuries, a run game that was slow to get going in recent weeks, and receivers struggling to get open.
But in terms of understanding why they are making this specific change now, Jeudy summed it up best.
“I’m pretty sure that’s what everybody is looking for is that spark,” Jeudy said. “Like coach said, it’s all 11 guys on that field. All 11 guys got to do their job just for that play to be successful. So if one guy messes up, the whole play is screwed. So, you know, as long as everybody do their job, you can go places.”
And even though the first few weeks have been frustrating, Jeudy and the Browns still believe there are plenty of places they can go.
It also helps that the AFC North remains wide open. The Steelers lead the way at 3-1. The Browns and Ravens both have 1-3 records, and the Bengals sit at 2-2, but will be without Joe Burrow for three months after undergoing surgery for turf toe.
There’s currently 11 teams in the NFL with either one or zero wins.
“We got a lot more games left,” Jeudy said. “It’s not really about how you start, it’s about how you finish, and we’re working towards the finishing our best and winning all the rest of these games.”
All that’s left is to see if the Dillon Gabriel–to–Jerry Jeudy Express actually leaves the station — and how far it can go.