The Cleveland Browns surprised the entire NFL community by drafting two rookie quarterbacks in Shedeur Sanders and Dillon Gabriel in the 2025 NFL draft. The pair have yet to appear in a preseason game together so far, as both have managed injuries this training camp.
After the second game, which Gabriel participated in, he made some comments that turned into a media firestorm in his postgame interview.
“There’s entertainers and there’s competitors and I understand that but my job is to compete,” Gabriel said, which most people around the sport interpreted as a thinly veiled shot at Sanders.
For what it’s worth, Gabriel later stated that his comments were in no way a shot at his teammate. Now, Sanders is addressing the comments.
“I spoke with him,” Sanders said, according to Chris Easterling of the Akron Beacon Journal. “He said, ‘Nah bro, that wasn’t,’ he said that. He told me on the plane. He came up, he was like, ‘Nah bro, that wasn’t at you. I see how they trying to spin it.’ I’m like, ‘Oh, I’m not tripping. Regardless of whatever it was.’ Nobody’s words or anything affects me.”
Sanders was asked if he believed Gabriel’s insistence that the comments were not about him.
“Did I believe him?” Sanders said. “I mean, I feel like you’re trying to start stuff now. I feel like you’re trying to start stuff. I mean, [the reporter’s] doing his job he’s supposed to. Do I feel like he did?
“I don’t know. And that’s not on me to sit here and be like, ‘Oh he did, he did it.’ That’s not going to change my life in any way.”
Both quarterbacks are set to play in the Browns’ final preseason game, so it’ll be interesting to see who has the better day.
About Qwame Skinner
Qwame Skinner has loved both writing and sports his entire life. In addition to his sports coverage at Comeback Media, Qwame writes novels, and his debut; The First Casualty, an adult fantasy, is out now.