'Reps are reps. Pros are pros': Rookie Dillon Gabriel trying to make most of Browns camp

BEREA — Dillon Gabriel has spent most of his football-playing life at the top of a team's quarterback depth chart.

From Miliani High School in Hawaii to any of his three college stops, Gabriel has usually been QB1 when he's been physically able to do so. That isn't the case at this point in time as he's going through the transition into his first training camp in the NFL.

Instead of being at the front of the line, Gabriel has been closer to the back with fellow rookie Shedeur Sanders as the Browns near the end of their first half week of training camp. While both are considered part of the team's four-way quarterback competition with 18-year pro Joe Flacco and fourth-year pro Kenny Pickett, both have received limited, if any, work with the starting offensive group.

“Yeah, reps are reps," Gabriel said before the Browns' third camp practice July 25. "Pros are pros. Of course, there's some guys that have played a lot more ball than others, but for the most part I think you can just maximize 'em. The speed of the game is typical — there's elite players on both sides of the ball — but the more you can get tries at it, of course it'll help."

Gabriel has spent most of his work with either the second or third units when the Browns have gone to either seven-on-seven or 11-on-11 drills. When it's the former, it's typically been the two rookies on one field working mostly with other rookies and unproven players.

There was at least a small breakthrough for Gabriel on July 25. For the first time all camp, he was able to get 11-on-11 reps behind the Browns' expected No. 1 offensive line — center Ethan Pocic, guards Joel Bitonio and Wyatt Teller and tackles Dawand Jones and Jack Conklin — for three plays.

That's the only one of 13 first-team series between seven-on-sevens and 11-on-11s over the first three days of camp to not go to Flacco or Pickett. Flacco has had seven of them, with the other five going to Pickett.

"I've told you multiple times how I view competition, being myself yesterday and how can I be better than I was yesterday," Gabriel said. "And I think when you have that focus, it's going to make everyone better. It's going to make your team better, it's going to make our room better, and that's all I can do. Control what I can control. And anytime you think outside of that, you're not serving the moment."

The reality is, whether the reps are with the first team or fourth, there's been a scarcity for any of the four quarterbacks in camp. The most any of them will get at a given time is six during an 11-on-11 series, including Gabriel's final series July 25 with the threes.

All four quarterbacks have stressed the importance of "stealing reps" when they can get them. There's also the reality of doing whatever they can to maximize the time they're not the one under center.

So what does it take to do that?

"I think elite focus," Gabriel said. "It's difficult to talk about or difficult to actually do, easy to talk about, and I think that's something that you just have to continue to pride yourself on. And I've had a lot of reps of that, but every rep is precious physically, but even mentally when you're behind center and trying to get those reps, those are precious as well.

"So try to do the combination of the two, and then when you're in meetings be able to talk through it so that you feel extremely prepared for when you do get on the grass. But it's a culmination of a lot of things, and that's why being present is huge, so you don't let a day pass by without you being extremely focused on what's at hand."

Chris Easterling can be reached at [email protected]. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on X at @ceasterlingABJ

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Browns rookie Dillon Gabriel cites 'elite focus' to handle mental reps