Everyone knew this time was coming.
The rebuilding Cleveland Browns were never going to start 40-year old Joe Flacco for too long at quarterback. And on Wednesday morning, the Browns officially announced a change: Dillon Gabriel will be their Week 5 starting QB.
Flacco will backup Gabriel, with Shedeur Sanders remaining the No. 3 quarterback.
It's not a particularly shocking development now, but dating back to the wild NFL Draft free fall of Sanders, it's been a question out there: Will it be Gabriel or Sanders for the Browns?
For now, it's Gabriel.
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Why are the Browns starting Dillon Gabriel over 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.
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.
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