Jared Verse showed up to his first Cleveland practice on Wednesday wearing No. 8, and Dillon Gabriel now appears headed for a new jersey number before training camp begins. The number clash put two players on a collision course almost as soon as Verse stepped onto the field for individual drills after Monday’s Myles Garrett trade.
For Gabriel, the timing lands badly. He has worn No. 8 since the Browns drafted him in the third round of the 2025 NFL Draft, and the number was also his at Oregon. Now he is expected to give it up to Verse, whose first message to the Browns seemed to be the jersey itself — “V8,” as he put it.
The number change is the visible part of a deeper scramble around Cleveland’s quarterback room. Gabriel, the No. 94 pick, was quickly elevated by the Kevin Stefanski regime after a 1-3 start to the 2025 season, only to give the job back to Shedeur Sanders after leaving a Week 11 game against the Ravens with a concussion. Since then, Gabriel has been in a more uncertain place, even as the Browns added Taylen Green on Day 3 of the 2026 draft.
Cleveland is unlikely to keep four quarterbacks on the roster this year, and the names that appear safest are Deshaun Watson, Sanders and Green. That leaves Gabriel, who was once fast-tracked into the starting role, looking more and more like the odd man out in a room that keeps getting tighter.
What Gabriel wears in camp is still unresolved, but the more important question is whether the Browns still see him as part of the long-term quarterback plan or simply the next player squeezed out by the numbers.
