QB Dillon Gabriel (8.4.25)
Dillon (Gabriel), how excited are you to to get into a game against another team on Friday?
“Yeah, I don’t want to give you the cliche answer and say I’m extremely excited. But as you can imagine, it’s my first time. So, it’ll be a lot of fun being able to get around a new team and compete against a new team. Different from college in that way and excited for another opportunity.”
What are you looking forward to most in even just the joint practice when you get down there on Wednesday?
“Yeah, I think it’ll just be interesting. It’s a cool concept too. Being a rookie, new to how preseason works. It’ll be interesting to see how it goes in joint practice, even leading into the preseason game. But it’s fun. I know colleges have talked about it before and wanted to do that and it’s something that you look forward to as a competitor as well. So it’ll be interesting.”
Through two weeks, how do feel you’ve been doing?
“Yeah, I don’t look at it through two weeks, how I think I’m doing. I think just day to day, I think there’s a lot of growth and that’s from when I first got here up until now. I think it’s forever evolving, and I want to continue to be better and continue to grow. There’s ups and downs and ebbs and flows within the competition to feel to play. That’s just what happens. For me, I just want to continue to be better than I was yesterday.”
Do you think you’re prepared for this moment, Dillon (Gabriel)?
“I’ve been prepared for the moment, so I’m excited for that and know that these moments add up, but each moment is its own situation and one that you want to take advantage of.”
How do you think you handle those ups and downs during training camp?
“It’s life, you know, I think for many, it’s what you put yourself out there as a competitor. Of course you want certain results, but sometimes it doesn’t always go your way. There’s a lot of things that collectively we can help one another out and be better in certain aspects. It starts with me as the quarterback who touches the ball every single play. It’s the ultimate team sport, and that’s why you love competing in it and I love playing the game.”
How do you think playing so many years in college has prepared you to know there are going to be some down times, but also not get discouraged?
“Yeah, I don’t want to make it about downtimes, but I think it’s more so with all my experience, you’ve been through a lot of situations and have seen a lot. It doesn’t mean there won’t be new situations that are unique to that time and certain situation, but you just appreciate them all, and you know that through all that growth is going to become at an all-time high because there’s times to learn, there’s times to grow, and the more you put yourself out there in that way, the faster you can get there.”
It’s been reported nationally that the Browns putting are a lot on your plate because they feel they want to challenge you. How much can you handle that challenge and what do you think of them doing that?
“Yeah, I think a lot of programs I’ve been a part of have done that. I think you try to put a lot of stress offensively to see how much your team can handle. For me, it’s something that I’m accustomed to, and you want to stress early and know when to pull back. I think we’ve done a great balance of that as a team, and I think you challenge not only the quarterback position, but everyone around you to see how versatile you can be, but also conceptually, how you can make it simplified for everyone to understand.”
What’s been the biggest difference for you working with the second and third team to the occasional time with the first team?
“Yeah, for me, I go back to pros are pros and reps are reps. I think when you get in there, you do go through your progressions and you go through your pre-snap ways of operating, but for the most part, I think there’s a lot of great players on the field at all times and you got to compete at a high level no matter what. So, if I were to change how my approach was per ones, twos, threes, whatever it may be, then I’m not serving the moment for who I want to be every single rep.”
Dillon, what is it that you’re looking to accomplish Friday for the preseason game and the combined scrimmage? Are there any personal goals that you want to accomplish, or overall team goals or a little bit of both?
“Yeah, just executing at a high level. I think for all of us, we all want to do that, but collectively being able to get in the game flow and see how, not just in certain team reps where you work in certain situations, but in true move the ball, how you can build momentum, build flow, not just for me as a quarterback, but for the whole unit. I think that’ll be good for us going into Wednesday, but also Friday as well.”
What strengths of yours do you think can be showcased in a live game setting that maybe is harder to show in practice?
“Yeah, I think just me being myself, and being able to go out there and operate. I think at the quarterback position, you make good decisions like that, the rest will come to play and, you want to showcase how you can operate within the system, and the rest will take care of itself. So, that’s what I want to be able to showcase. But more importantly, just us coming together as a team, I think it’s a great opportunity for us all.”
You mentioned that college doesn’t really have something like preseason. Is there something where you can compare it to something that you’ve gone through in college?
“You know, we were talking about it this morning. I actually go back to high school. I remember in high school, we’d have a camp Thursday, Friday and Saturday. On Thursday, we’re scrimmaging three other teams all on one field. So, it gives more of that feel. That’s why I kind of use the college aspect. I’m not too familiar with it since my high school times, so it’ll be interesting to see it on display on Wednesday. But I look forward to it. I think that’s where I kind of use high school, college, NFL – how different it may be.”
How do you feel like you have been performing in this camp so far?
“Yeah, I go back to just, every single day is individual of its own. I think you want to collectively build days, but within that, you want to be proud of certain reps, you want to be proud of how there’s opportunity to grow and correcting, maybe a mistake once to next time and continue to answer the bell that way. So, for me, it’s doing that and stacking it up. But the more reps, the more tries you get at it, the more confidence you build and the ability to showcase what you can do slowly by just operating within the offense.”
Having more on your plate and knowing they’re putting more on your plate. You’ve dealt with that before. How have you learned to handle staying in the moment and take things one at a time?
“Study habits for me are huge. I think you want to approach it a certain way and I don’t want to use this quote again, but coach (Kevin Stefanski) always talks about an elephant eating one bite at a time. For me, you got to do it that way. You got to break it down, make it easy to learn and memorize. But then, also when you’re out there, it’s got to be able to translate as well. So, whenever you can translate the classroom to the field, that’s been huge for me, and that’s whether it’s walkthroughs, going through the cadence and calls, getting used to that, but then also, the physical aspect of connecting with receivers, being able to see an operation pre snap, close snap, that’s all things that you want to be extremely comfortable in so that you can just go out and play.”
Now that you’re more familiar with this offensive system than you learned, in what ways does this system accentuate what you do best?
“You know, I think throughout the process, even leading up to here, I knew that there’s a lot of similarities. In Oregon and what I did there helped me come in here in Cleveland. Offensively, I think schematically there’s a lot of things that I have done before in the past, so I could conceptualize it a lot easier in that way, but I think in just my abilities, I’ve done it, you know, in this type of scheme. So, now it’s the next level, there’s a lot more to do and you have to consistently do it. As I always say, it’s a results-based business. So, what have you done for me lately, right? That’s what I look forward to.”
The organization’s been really focused on process. That’s been talked a lot about with you and the other quarterbacks. So, at what point do you start paying attention to the results, and when did the results start to matter for you outside of the classroom?
“Great, great question, because you always want results, but I think more than anything it’s consistent results. So, if you don’t have a process, you can truly hang your hat on, then you’re leaving it up to chance. Maybe it’s more inconsistent rather than having a strong process. Of course, you know how the game of football goes. There’s a lot of positives, there may be some negatives, but there’s also something to pride yourself on, your process, and how you work and how you approach it. For me, I think you build up that process and you want to see results and it will come. Like I just said, it’s a results-based business. So, you got to go do it, and that’s why we always talk about no excuses, know what to do and do it. So, I think that’s the approach and knowing that you got to go out there and do it.”
Dillon, I’m sure the phases from draft to minicamp, now I feel like you’ve just developed in different ways or picked up on certain things. At this stage, almost two weeks into training camp, what do you feel has developed or learned most during these first two weeks?
“Yeah, I think just getting more around the guys, when you build up rapport with those guys, you’re able to build a lot more flow and feel a lot more consistent, whether it’s tendencies on their routes. I bring up with Diontae Johnson, just his ability to get in out of cuts a different way than maybe another receiver, right? Being able to understand that and build that timing up with guys. But then also when you operate within the offense, you just want it to be consistent. I think I found consistency in that by calling a play in the huddle, getting to the line of scrimmage, how does it look? How do we operate within that? So, it’s consistent. Not through one quarterback, but all.”
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