3 landing spots for Dillon Gabriel after southpaw seemingly falls out of Browns' QB competition originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The Cleveland Browns have one of the more fascinating quarterback rooms in the NFL, with Shedeur Sanders, Deshaun Watson, and Dillon Gabriel making up what could be a three-headed QB competition.
However, Todd Monken seemingly indicated that Gabriel won't be the starter for the Browns this upcoming season based on the commentary about the minicamp reps for Watson and Sanders from Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com.
With such a possible QB plan for the Browns, with Gabriel seemingly entrenched as the third QB, it would make sense for the Browns to seek a trade with the lefty. If they do, these are three possible landing spots for the southpaw QB.
There are a few different reasons why the lefty Browns quarterback would be a good fit in Atlanta. The most obvious one is that there are already two left-handed quarterbacks on the roster.
Michael Penix Jr. and Tua Tagovailoa are the only other lefty QBs in the NFL, and both are on the Falcons roster. They also have Trevor Siemian on the roster, but with Penix banged up and Tagovailoa a shaky QB, adding another depth option couldn't hurt.
Gabriel also played for Kevin Stefanski in 2025 in Cleveland, so the former Browns head coach could reunite with a QB he's already worked with if this trade were to go through.
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The New York Jets own a ton of draft picks over the next two drafts, with four picks inside the top 44 in the 2026 NFL Draft. None of those would be used to land Gabriel, but the Browns could go after a Day 3 pick from the Jets.
Geno Smith is the starter, and Brady Cook is the current backup. The Jets need to add a rookie in the 2026 draft class, but they also would likely want to add another veteran by way of a trade.
Gabriel isn't a veteran in the sense of some other QBs, but he does have starting experience, and could be a decent depth option at worst for the Jets for a few years to come.
Lastly, the Los Angeles Rams are in need of a backup quarterback to Matthew Stafford. They're going all-in for the 2026 season, and the team needs to add a backup quarterback to help them do so.
Jimmy Garoppolo might be retiring, leaving the Rams without a clear backup plan. They could draft a rookie, though that's a risky move. Instead, landing someone the team can be confident in if they need to play makes the most sense.
Gabriel is a game manager and would be surrounded by great coaches and a supporting cast of players along the offensive line and at the skill positions. He can play things safe for the Rams, and could win a game or two if needed.
More: Todd Monken reveals QB plan for Browns thats good news for Shedeur Sanders
"We were just rotating who was first reps. Shedeur to start, there were some other reps... The way it was going to turn out, Shedeur was going to get more reps..." Monken said. "It was set up in a way to get a look at all of them, the plan was for Shedeur to get a few more reps, but to let Deshaun and Shedeur both get reps with the ones."
#Browns Todd Monken on the quarterbacks in minicamp today: pic.twitter.com/zjIYOvpDuD
Gabriel wasn't mentioned in the QB competition by Monken, so now, it's reasonable to suspect that the lefty could be available for trade.
If he's on the move, the Jets, Falcons, and Rams are three teams that could be landing spots for Gabriel. There might be other suitors as well, but these three teams all have a need, or would be a good fit for the lefty quarterback selected in the third round last year.
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