Dillon Gabriel made a comment during Saturday’s preseason game that could have been taken the wrong way.
The Cleveland Browns rookie quarterback and former Oregon and Oklahoma star was being interviewed during the 3rd quarter of a 22-13 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles. Gabriel, a 3rd-round pick of the Browns in the spring, is trying his hardest to make an impression amid a logjam of Cleveland quarterbacks that includes fellow rookie Shedeur Sanders, the former standout at Colorado.
With Sanders sidelined for the game after suffering an oblique injury during a joint practice with the Eagles earlier this week, Gabriel was front and center. He got the start on Saturday after working his way back into the lineup following a hamstring injury. Gabriel went 13 of 18 for 143 yards, didn’t throw a touchdown and had 1 interception against the Eagles, but it was what he said on the sidelines during the game that got a lot of attention after the game.
“There’s entertainers and there’s competitors. I totally understand that. My job is to compete. That’s what I’m focused on doing. Just want to create the environment where we can all do our best work,” said Gabriel.
Here is the full clip of Gabriel’s sideline comments during the 3rd quarter:
Gabriel’s earlier comments got a lot of attention in the postgame press conference, as one might imagine, and Gabriel clarified exactly what he meant. What Gabriel was trying to say was that the media are the entertainers (not Sanders) and that he’s just a competitor.
“It’s all about our team and each other. For me, the entertainers are you all (the media), and the competitor is what I am and all my teammates. (Sanders and I) both have jobs to do. That’s it,” explained Gabriel.
Here is the clip of Gabriel clarifying what he meant during his sideline interview:
Gabriel is in a fierce battle with the Browns’ other quarterbacks, Sanders included, for playing time this preseason, but on Saturday part of the battle was making sure everybody knew what his words meant.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
