Dillon Gabriel put together the Browns' best preseason QB performance

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Deshaun Watson and Shedeur Sanders received the bulk of the playing time at quarterback for the Cleveland Browns as they battled for the starting job across the team's first two preseason games.

In preseason Week 3, it was Dillon Gabriel and Taylen Green's team to run the show after Todd Monken named Watson Cleveland's starter.

Gabriel, a third-round pick from the 2025 NFL Draft, was granted the chance to start. It was a critical opportunity for the 25-year-old, who had struggled in mop-up duty across his first two preseason contests.

Gabriel capitalized on the chance afforded to him. He led the Browns offense to 27 points while demonstrating great rhythm and accuracy across one half of action. Entering Thursday's action, Cleveland had only scored 17 total points across its previous two preseason games.

Here's more to know about Gabriel's outing against the Patriots, including a grade for his performance.

Dillon Gabriel grade for preseason start in Browns vs. Patriots

Gabriel put together a strong performance against the Patriots, one that will likely help him lock down the Browns' third-string quarterback job ahead of the 2026 NFL season.

Gabriel looked much more comfortable in the pocket than he did across his first two preseason outings. He was in rhythm throughout the evening, routinely finding open receivers and hitting them with accurate passes at all levels of the field.

Gabriel was particularly impressive when throwing to the intermediate portion of the field. On one occasion, the lefty was able to hang in the pocket amid pressure and hit Ben Patterson breaking open over the middle of the field.

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