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Last week, Cleveland Browns rookie quarterback Dillon Gabriel’s comments raised some eyebrows. Gabriel spoke to a reporter during halftime of this past Saturday’s Browns-Eagles preseason game and noted that “there are entertainers and there are competitors.”
He also described himself as a competitor. After the game, Gabriel was asked if the contrast he mentioned was connected to his teammate and fellow rookie Sheduer Sanders. Gabriel then clarified his remarks, saying he was describing the media as entertainers, and he considered everyone on the Browns roster a competitor.
As the saga dragged on, Sanders offered his perspective.
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Cleveland Browns quarterback Dillon Gabriel looks to pass during the first half of an NFL preseason football game against the Philadelphia Eagles on Saturday, Aug. 16, 2025, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
“Words or anything, it can’t do anything to me,” Sanders responded when asked about Gabriel’s hotly debated “entertainers” line. “I know that God put the ability and the power in me to not even care about peoples’ comments. It is what it is. I spoke with him. He [Gabriel] told me on the plane ‘that wasn’t at you. I see how they’re trying to spin it.’ I’m not tripping, regardless of whatever it was. Nobody’s words or anything affects me.”
A reporter followed up by asking whether Sanders believed Gabriel.
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“Did I believe him?” Sanders asked. “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.”
Shedeur Sanders #12 of the Cleveland Browns stands for the national anthem prior to a NFL Preseason 2025 game against the Carolina Panthers at Bank of America Stadium on August 8, 2025, in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Logan Bowles/Getty Images)
Sanders handled the starting quarterback duties in Cleveland’s preseason opener. He finished his preseason debut with two touchdowns. Sanders was sidelined with an oblique injury during the Browns’ second exhibition game.
Gabriel finished the Week 2 preseason contest with 143 passing yards. But, he also threw a pick-six.
Dillon Gabriel #5 and Shedeur Sanders #12 of the Cleveland Browns run a drill during Cleveland Browns mandatory minicamp at CrossCountry Mortgage Campus on June 10, 2025 in Berea, Ohio. (Nick Cammett/Diamond Images via Getty Images)
Super Bowl winner Joe Flacco, 40, was named the starter for the Browns’ regular season opener against the Cincinnati Bengals.
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Sanders, Gabriel, Kenny Pickett, and Tyler Huntley make up the rest of Cleveland’s crowded quarterback room.
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