Browns QB Room Faces Shakeup With Dillon Gabriel Return

To keep four QBs or not to keep four QBs, that is the question the Cleveland Browns will face in a few weeks. 

Cleveland announced on Tuesday that Dillon Gabriel would be returning to practice off the injured reserve this week after being placed on the list with a back injury at the time of roster cutdown day in late August. 

By rule, if a player is placed on the IR they must miss at least four games before being eligible to return to the active roster. With Gabriel sidelined for the first four games of the season, he's now fulfilled that obligation and is healthy enough to return to practice this week. 

By opening his practice window, the Browns start the clock on a 21-day timeline to decide if they will activate Gabriel to the active roster. If those three weeks go by without the 2025 third-round pick reverting to the 53-man roster, he must then go back on the IR, and his season would then be over at that point. 

It's unclear at this point how Cleveland's brass will handle bringing Gabriel back. They could slow-play the decision and utilize the full three-week window before their hand is forced. 

At that point they'd have to decide if they truly have an appetite for using four, 53-man roster spots on quarterbacks something that is extremely rate in today's NFL, granted not entirely unheard of. The Browns biggest rival, the Pittsburgh Steelers are currently rostering four QBs. 

If they instead prioritize keeping the more standard three QBs, they'd then have to figure out how to finagle the loaded room. With Deshaun Watson currently handling the QB1 role and playing well, it's unlikely he's going anywhere. The nature of Watson's contract also makes it improbable that he'd be moved during the season. 

That leaves Shedeur Sanders, Gabriel and rookie Taylen Green as the signal callers to sort through. That could be as simple as releasing one and trying to bring them back on the practice squad, but exposing any of them to waivers is always a risk.

Of course, there's always the possibility GM Andrew Berry swings a QB trade of some sort. Trading a quarterback has become a bit of an annual event for Berry, although usually he's executing a QB trade for some Day 3 draft pick at the end of training camp. Just last year he sent veteran signal caller Kenny Pickett to the Las Vegas Raiders for a fifth-round pick. 

Time will tell if Berry and company will explore trading one of their quarterbacks, but it's a safe bet the phone lines are open, which may mean slowing playing Gabriel's return to the 53 could be the move here for Cleveland. 

Along with Gabriel, the Browns also activated veteran DT Kalia Davis to return off the IR and will start practicing this week. They also signed DT Chris Williams and WR James Proche to the practice squad.