The Cleveland Browns chose an interesting time to make a big decision.
They've swapped starting quarterbacks for Week 5. It's Dillon Gabriel taking over the QB reins from Joe Flacco against an aggressive Minnesota Vikings defense in London.
Flacco will remain Gabriel's backup. Shedeur Sanders is QB3 and has just emergency quarterback status on Sunday, meaning he can only play if both guys ahead of him get hurt.
Sanders fans aren't happy about that, but it's what head coach Kevin Stefanski feels is best.
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Why is Dillon Gabriel starting and not Shedeur Sanders?
The Browns have made clear from the start that they've placed a higher valuation on Gabriel.
They took him in the third round of April's NFL Draft, at No. 94 overall, and took Sanders in the fifth round, at No. 144 overall.
Gabriel got training camp reps with the first-team offense. Sanders did not.
The lefty Gabriel has been No. 2 on every QB depth chart since Kenny Pickett's trade to the Las Vegas Raiders. Sanders has been No. 3.
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Sanders has been just the emergency QB on each gameday through four weeks, while Gabriel has been Flacco's direct backup.
Both Gabriel and Sanders had ample college experience, and both have NFL-level traits. But the Browns have signaled all along that when one of the rookies was going to get a chance, it would be Gabriel. And that chance has arrived.
Sanders isn't the backup because Stefanski feels Flacco would be more equipped to step in if Gabriel exits the game abruptly. That doesn't mean that if Gabriel was out for an extended time, the Browns wouldn't try Sanders in future weeks, but they'd want him to get ample preparation leading into a game for his first start.
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