Is Dillon Gabriel the Cleveland Browns Rookie With the Most to Prove When His Number Gets Called?

Is Dillon Gabriel the Cleveland Browns Rookie With the Most to Prove When His Number Gets Called?

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What was the night before like, you know, when rookies was uh getting ready to report to Jacksonville Jaguars training camp and then what was that first day like for you? Man, it was crazy cuz that was the lockout year. So, I was literally working on roofs and working out in the Lions, Ohio at school. Um my girlfriend at the time, who’s my wife now, she was pregnant with my oldest. So, literally just working for the call cuz we had no idea what was going on. There was no rookie mini camp. There was no anything in Jacksonville. So, we got the call the day before, hey, we going to fly y’all in. Um, boom, boom, boom. I’m like, oh snap. I was think I was working a a football camp at Mount Union. I’m like, oh snap. Okay, cool. All right. Yeah. On the flight, give them information. Next day, take off to Jacksonville and uh it’s it was a surreal feeling. It was a nervous feeling. It was exciting feeling. And then I walk in the locker room. Unless, you know, I see Maurice Jones Drew and I see David Gerrard and I see, you know, we drafted Blaine Gabbard. I already knew Blaine. We met Blaine before um during the draft process, but all these guys you watch on TV, Rasheed Matthysse and and Mercedes Lewis. And Mercedes is still playing by the way, like 23rd year at tight end. Um you see these guys you watch on TV it’s like yo and that was my first time like I mean obviously but it’s rookie but you’re in the locker room you’re looking around you see the vets it’s like this is crazy and then when you step on the field it’s go time like it’s like it’s it’s high intensity you feel the tension from everybody because you want to prove yourself especially with no mini camp beforehand. Um but it’s fun man. The fans are so into it. They are loving what’s going on. They’re excited you out there. It’s a it’s a thrill for a rookie to finally live your dream because it’s like you go through the whole process of proving yourself. You play your senior season, you prove yourself at different bowl games, combines, meetings, all these things. Now, boom, you’re there. I get to play football. And you don’t relax, but it’s like, “All right, now I can do what I’ve been what I came here to do.” You know what I mean? So, it’s definitely a real good feeling. Sweet. Sweet. So, as we talked about, you know, we got some rookies that’s about to get started today. Veterans will be there Tuesday on the 22nd as we get the football season underway. Mason Graham, uh Carson Swessinger, Quinn Sean Junkkins, of course he has the legal issues. We don’t know when he will arrive and he has still not signed his rookie contract. We’ll talk about that. Dylan Samson, Dylan Gabriel, and Shador Sanders. That is the Cleveland Browns rookie class. Bro, as we go through this list and we just talk about players who are under the most pressure to perform this season, at the top of that list for you would be I think it’s two guys. Okay. And I think it’s both quarterbacks because I think the first thing that comes to mind like all right Mason Graham fifth overall pick but the pressure not on him as a defensive tackle playing next to Miles Garrett like you it will be kind of he he will be out of the spotlight unless unless he plays terrible, right? He’ll be out of the spotlight unless he plays terrible or if he plays exceptional, he’ll be in the spotlight, right? But if he just does his job well, we won’t be talking about him a ton compared to Dylan Gabriel who was drafted in the third round and Shador Sanders who was drafted in the fifth round. And Shador, as you put in the notes, his following and he’s doing one heck of a job of of building a relationship with the city of Cleveland. Like that’s not rare. That’s rare for a rookie to go out of his way to do everything he’s doing for the city. That’s more of a veteran type thing. That’s more of a star player type thing where a guy’s been there a long time, right? A guy that’s been in the city, they loved him, they fall in love with him, a superstar, he proved himself on the field already. He’s doing this before he even proved himself, which is amazing. Um, so for him to do that, that’s a big deal. But I think the the topic of conversation for the rookie is going to be who can win the quarterback job. Can Dylan do it? Can Shadur do it? Because we all we talk about all the time, every week almost that in 2026 it’s supposed to be this great quarterback class. So, they have to go out there and prove them so that their worth to be on the roster and possibly be a starter for years to come. So, I think the most pressure is on them. I think uh all eyes will be on them every single snap. Whether it is a pre-nap like before practice even starts whether it’s they were the ones twos threes preeason we’re going to be analyzing Earl we were already analyzing 707s giving stats week to week on sports show stats every week so training camp come I believe it’s going to be that plus more when preseason come games that plus more joint practices that plus more so I think the pressure is on him my my out on them them two alone my out outskirts. I think Dylan Samson is somebody to watch. I wouldn’t say it’s pressure, but I think with the legal situation, we don’t know what the NFL is going to do. We don’t know what’s going on with all that, right? I think Dylan has an opportunity to really step up. He was so productive at Tennessee, especially his last year there uh this past season. He’s a guy that um is kind of getting overlooked because how good Quinn Sean can be. Um, but he is a guy that can hit the hole from the inside. We all know he’s super fast. He can catch outside. He can catch the ball well and they’ve been using him at receiver at times when it comes to uh OTAAS and mini camps. So, he’s he’s dynamic there, but he can hit the ball in between the tackles. He can make guys miss. He’s shifty. He’s a great change of pace guy for Quinn Sean. So, I understand why they did that. um not that pressure is on him but they may expect more from him if Junkkins cannot play early on right so now it may be him and it may be Ford but also brings me back to your boy Nick Chub if you were to sign Nick Chub right now we wouldn’t feel no type of way we wouldn’t feel as maybe worried I say myself I wouldn’t feel as worried as I would without Nick Chub cuz say Jar let me ask you a question real quick on that front how has he looked you know, early on in Houston as as the Texans get ready to kick off training camp, what’s been the buzz about Nick Chub down there? People are excited. Like, people are excited. And one thing people keep saying is it takes two years from your drastic knee injury to get back in the swing of things. And this is year two, fam, right? This is year two for him. Um, so people love the idea of of of the name, but in train in in mini camp, he looks good. He looks explosive. He looks fast. He looks powerful. He looks like the old Nick Chub right now. It’s about seeing what he can do with the pads on. Is he going to be confident getting hit? Stuff like that with a broken foot. Um has he really has he lost a step? Has he not? I think honestly it does take two years. Um I think from an an from an analyst standpoint, I I love the pick because it’s low risk, high reward. Like you got him for a low, but if he messes around and produces at a high level with Joe Mixon, oh my gosh, you’re sitting you’re sitting pretty in AFC off those two guys. So he he’s looking good. It’s a matter of can he continue that and stay healthy. We all know what Nick Chub can do, right? So that that that’s a good question. You know, you you talked about Dylan Samson and Bull kind of looked at me like I was crazy when I said this, but when they drafted him and paired him with Quinn Sean Junkkins, not that they’ve had the production because they never even really stepped on the field yet in a in a in a real game. But I kind of compared it to Detroit and what they have with Montgomery and Jir Gibbs. And I know when I start comparing Dylan Samson to Jir Gibbs, people think I’m crazy, but I think that’s the perfect player comp. They’re around the same height. They’re both fast as hell. They both can run inside, outside the tackles. They both can catch the ball out the back field. They are that third down specialist, that weapon that you use to where you look at Coinshine, built a little bit more like Kareem Hunt, more of a physical, bruising type running back, a guy that can pick up some blocks. And to me, that’s how David Montgomery is built. And so, I can definitely see the vision that Cleveland Browns backfield. And it’s unfortunate that Quinn Sean Junkkins have found himself in this situation, you know, has cost himself some money. He’s cost himself some valuable reps on the practice field. And we don’t know when he will show up and be available, you know, for the Cleveland Browns, uh, at when when as training camp gets on the way. to that point of him when you look at him being a rookie, not under contract, and then whenever he he gets there, he’s going to try to be getting up the pace and and and getting himself into shape. How tough is that uphill climb for him going to be because of this situation? I think the me I think mentally is going to be tougher than anything. Um because mentally he doesn’t know what’s coming. He doesn’t know what the NFL is going to do. He doesn’t know what the outcome of his situation is. He and the young lady only know what really happened, right? Um, so I think mentally, can he just focus on ball? Can he just be himself? Can he just go out there and play and be the guy we’re all excited for him to be? That would be the task that that that’s the toughest for him. Can he handle all this mentally and I’m not sure. He’s 21 years old and he is at the didn’t sign a contract. That’s going to bother him. Uh, I know he was one of the guys that one of the gu I’m assuming one of the guarantee contracts similar to Jaden Higgins out of Iowa State that got drafted by the Texans. Um, and I think that’s hurting him right now. If he didn’t get in trouble, okay, boom. I think something gets done pretty soon. He’d be at camp. But the fact that he got in trouble, he’s probably not going to get what he wanted to get. And the leverage goes from him to back to the Cleveland Browns. So, I think mentally it’s like a lot going on. He has to stay sharp. He has to understand, okay, this is not the end of my career. It’s still the beginning of it, right? I still can bounce back from whatever is found out and whatever is true, whatever is not true. He still can bounce back and go out there and and win these fans over and play good b play good football, excuse me. But mentally, he’s going to have to be strong, man. And that’s tough as you know, as a grown man our age, but especially for a 21-year-old in the spotlight. And again, only him and that girl know what really happened and what went down. Yeah, we all got opinions and facts and police reports say this and that, but we don’t know till all the facts get out there. Um, but that that’s going to be the hardest part for him. Yes, he got to stay in shape. He’ll eventually get caught up when that time comes. It’s just mentally, especially if he’s out for a long time, a month or two or whatever the case may be. That’s going to be that’s going to be difficult. I know a photo surfaced of him uh late last night uh in the green, you know, you know, jumpsuit and handcuffs standing before the judge. And you know, regardless of how that situation plays out, we all know like, you know, the NFL governed by their own rules. And just just the optics alone, he’s already probably cost himself a 60ame suspension. And so, you know, it’s going to be an uphill climb. But you know, me and you both believe in redemption and being able to redefine yourself. And truthfully, man, these are opportunities to grow. You know, I just pray for them both in this situation. They are young adults and we all know like, you know, being able to regulate your emotions at that age is tough, you know, because if we still struggle with that and we we late 30s, imagine what they going through. Like that’s just on a human side of things, you know. For me, when I look at the player that’s under the most pressure to perform, uh, for me, it’s Dylan Gabriel for a few reasons. And I, and I’ll just lay them out for you. Dylan Gabriel, by most accounts, when you collected all of the prospects and you put them in one group, he was ranked as low as 148 out of 150 possible prospects. When you looked at the quarterback prospects, anybody that was an NFL analyst or a draft expert, they had him ranked about ninth or tenth of all the quarterbacks that was draft el uh eligible. Yet, the Cleveland Browns are operating like they found a needle in a haststack. We heard that this is supposed to be Kevin Stfansky guy. We’ve all heard that Andrew Barry took him to dinner and they spent all this time with Dylan Gabriel. They did their due diligence coming into this season. So, we talked about how it was important that Kevin Stfansky had his pick of the litter when it came to quarterbacks that was available to him. So, anybody that’s close to the team has told us that Dylan Gabriel was identified as Kevin Stfansky’s guy. Now, Dylan Gabriel’s what, 59, 510 on a good day. He’s a left-handed quarterback. We all know the stats and the analytics don’t go in his favor. For you to be a left-handed quarterback in the NFL and to be short and think you gonna have success, that’s banking on a crazy hope. For you to be a left-handed quarterback period in the NFL to have some success and you ain’t uber athlet athletic like Michael Vic, again, you you banking on some crazy hope. And so to me, because so much is on the line when it comes to the reputation of Andrew Barry, when it comes to the job security of him and Kevin Stfansky, uh, and when it comes to their credibility and being able to select and develop players, if this is the guy that you say is your quarterback and we all believe that that quarterback is Shador Sanders, then damn it, he better get hit the ground running and every opportunity that he get, he better make sure he’s cashing in on it because to us from afar, it’s looking like a wasted third round pick. I ain’t saying that’s the case, but that’s what it’s looking like. Um, I couldn’t agree more. I couldn’t agree more. He was not, and it’s not a knock on him. He earned the right to be drafted. He earned the right to be in the NFL. It’s not a knock on him. But when every expert says he’s the ninth or tth best quarterback and he’s a somewhere between a third, you know, a third day draft pick, um, when you look at just Oregon quarterbacks in general and what their success is like in the league or or like you mentioned, the shorter Oregon type, the shorter left-handed type quarterbacks, they’re not too they’re not too they don’t pan out to be starters superstars in the NFL. Can he play in the league? He probably can. He can play, bounce around, be a backup. Not doubting that part. But the Browns are looking for a franchise changer. They’re looking for a somebody that can be uh Cam Newton say a what was it? Not a game manager, but a a a a game breaker, right? Somebody that can really take over a game and change the entire franchise, put it on his back and lead us to the Super Bowl. It’s hard for me to say you gonna get that from Dylan Gabriel, from any any I just don’t see it, right? Um, so it’s it’s gonna be interesting. I totally get where you’re coming from. It’s gonna be interesting to watch him because all eyes are right. Like if he doesn’t do something right, if he doesn’t show out and he’s a third round pick, we’re going to be like, why did you draft him in the third round? And again, this goes back to Andrew Barry. It goes back to him and who he drafts and he has not drafted extremely well, I would say, in previous years. So definitely eyes are going to be on Dylan Gabriel.

With the Cleveland Browns’ 2025 class all in training camp except for Quinshon Judkins, the new question becomes which player is under the most pressure to perform when given their opportunity? Dillon Gabriel is that player, says Earl Da Pearl.

The Cleveland Browns drafted Dillon Gabriel with the 94th overall pick in this year’s NFL Draft and were pegged immediately as Kevin Stefanski’s “guy.” Seeing how every NFL Draft Analyst and Expert had Dillon Gabriel ranked 9th or 10th in the QB class and as low as 148th of the top 150 overall prospects, it’s hard to believe Andrew Berry, whose draft record isn’t excellent. Kevin Stefanski, whose development of QBs has come under question, got it right with Dillon Gabriel. Or did the Browns shock the world and get it right with Gabriel?

Which rookie is under the most pressure to you?

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