Rookie quarterback Dillon Gabriel will make his first NFL begin in London after the Cleveland Browns benched Joe Flacco forward of Sunday’s match-up with the Minnesota Vikings.
Flacco will transfer to back-up after throwing six interceptions throughout Cleveland’s 1-3 begin to the season, whereas Gabriel’s fellow rookie Shedeur Sanders stays at third-string.
Gabriel was a third-round choose on the 2025 NFL Draft earlier this yr, and turns into the fifth completely different beginning quarterback within the staff’s final 10 video games in addition to the thirteenth rookie quarterback to start out for the Browns since they returned to the league in 1999 after a three-year absence.
“From the second he’s been working here he’s been working very hard,” mentioned head coach Kevin Stefanski. “He’s very intelligent, he’s done a nice job in practice and he’s been, this whole season, learning how to get yourself ready and understanding the rhythm of an NFL week and what that looks like as a back-up.
“I really feel like he is now able to go in there as an NFL starter.”
The Browns arrive in the UK on the again of a 34-10 loss to the Detroit Lions, throughout which Flacco surrendered two first-half interceptions earlier than being changed by Gabriel late on the ultimate possession.
Gabriel takes the reins on a Cleveland offense rating second-worst in scoring and sixth-worst in whole yards.
The 24-year-old frolicked at UCF, Oklahoma and Oregon throughout a six-year school profession, posting a career-best 326 of 447 passing for 3,857 yards and 30 touchdowns to 6 interceptions with the latter throughout the 2024 marketing campaign.
Flacco re-signed with the Browns on a one-year deal within the offseason having clinched 2023 Comeback Participant of the Yr with the staff previous to spending a marketing campaign with the Indianapolis Colts.
Minnesota are coming off their 24-21 defeat to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Dublin, Eire as they put together to grow to be the primary staff in NFL historical past to play video games in two completely different nations outdoors of the USA in the identical season.
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