The Cleveland Browns could be on the cusp of a major change to their offense ahead of their trip to London for a Week 5 showdown with the Minnesota Vikings.
Browns insider Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com both called for head coach Kevin Stefanski to replace starting quarterback Joe Flacco with rookie Dillon Gabriel on Monday, and she also predicted it will happen.
“Coming off their embarrassing 34-10 loss to the [Detroit] Lions, the Browns need to jumpstart their turnover-and-drop-prone offense, and Gabriel can provide the spark,” Cabot wrote. “On Monday, Kevin Stefanski declined to commit to Flacco for the Vikings game, and that’s as it should be. It’s time for a change to see if the 1-3 season can still be salvaged, and one appears imminent.”
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Gabriel is a third-round rookie out of Oregon who played garbage-time minutes late against the Baltimore Ravens in Week 2 and also stepped in for Flacco on Sunday at the end of the Browns’ blowout loss to the Lions. He’s completed 3 of 4 passes for 75 yards and one touchdown this season.
Flacco, meanwhile, has completed just over 58% of his 160 pass attempts across the Browns’ slow start, amassing 815 yards, two touchdowns and six interceptions. Cleveland has a running back in rookie Quinshon Judkins who appears a viable long-term replacement for the departed Nick Chubb, but the offense still remains among the most stagnant in the NFL.
The Browns have yet to crack 20 points in a game this season, averaging just 14 points per contest. Part of that is due to the health of the offensive line, particularly at the offensive tackle positions, as those players are tasked with minimizing QB pressure off the edge.
Cleveland also has a thinner group of pass-catchers than most of the other 31 offenses around the league.
That said, the Browns spent two picks on quarterbacks in April’s draft, and Flacco’s numbers make it hard to justify keeping both Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders on the bench when the offense can’t get anything going with Flacco under center.
The success of multiple rookies on both sides of the ball early in 2025 also serves as some justification for trusting a rookie QB like Gabriel so early in his first NFL campaign.