It's time for Dillon Gabriel to breakout for the Cleveland Browns

As the Cleveland Browns prepare for yet another Sunday for rookie Dillon Gabriel to be under center, it's time for him to show Cleveland why he was taken in the third round.

The 94th overall selection in the 2025 NFL Draft was taken in a perfect spot for the Browns front office to show they believed in what he could do at the professional level. After six year's in college, Gabriel was poised to be a strong contributing on any given Sunday.

However, after three starts as the team's signal caller, Gabriel hasn't done too much to excite people. The Browns opted to trade veteran quarterback Joe Flacco to the Cincinnati Bengals, with hopes of giving as much focus to Gabriel as possible.

Through his three games as the main man, he has tossed for 546 yards and three touchdowns to go along with a 59.8% through the air. In the team's most recent game against the Miami Dolphins, he also was able to show a bit of versatility with his legs, rushing four times for 12 yards.

His ability to control games helped lead the Browns to a win over the Dolphins, 31-6.

"It's important to build sustainability as well," Gabriel said. "There's a lot that we will look back, and it's good in many areas, and there's a lot of things that you want to clean up. But I think that's what I'm excited about most is guys are eager. Guys want to get better. And when you look at the areas of improvement, it's encouraged, and we always encourage that."

That improvement Gabriel has talked about has come throughout nearly every guy on the roster as the year has ticked away. With the Browns now improved to 2-5 on the 2025 campaign, they have a lot to work with in the coming weeks.

However, a lot of this team's ceiling rides on what type of game the former Oregon Duck can provide moving forward.

Cleveland is simply not going to be able to beat good teams if Gabriel continues to throw check-downs and under 10-yard passes. Against the Minnesota Vikings, he completed 19 passes for 190 yards, an average of 10 yards a completion and two touchdowns. When he was asked to go deep, issues arose, and the offense started to become stagnant.

Against the Patriots on Sunday, Oct. 26, he needs to breakout.

That doesn't mean he has to throw for an absurd 350 yards and four touchdowns. He just needs to show he has what it takes to extend plays, work through his targets, take shots down the field and if called upon, rise to the occasion and keep the Browns in the game.

The Patriots are no pushover. They sit 5-2 on the year and have an electrifying second-year quarterback at the helm who is having one of the best seasons of any signal caller in the league.

If Gabriel finally breaks out, now is the time to do it.

The front office needs to see it to justify the decision to part ways with Flacco and keep rookie Shedeur Sanders on the bench, the rest of the team needs it with hopes of putting this season back on track and the fans need it to restore faith that Cleveland is in a good spot.

The Browns and Patriots will clash from Gillette Stadium at 1:00 p.m.