Rookie quarterback Dillon Gabriel will make his first NFL start in London after the Cleveland Browns benched Joe Flacco ahead of Sunday’s match-up with the Minnesota Vikings. 

Flacco will move to back-up after throwing six interceptions across Cleveland’s 1-3 start to the season, while Gabriel’s fellow rookie Shedeur Sanders stays at third-string.

Gabriel was a third-round pick at the 2025 NFL Draft earlier this year, and becomes the fifth different starting quarterback in the team’s last 10 games as well as the 13th rookie quarterback to start for the Browns since they returned to the league in 1999 after a three-year absence.

“From the second he’s been working here he’s been working very hard,” said head coach Kevin Stefanski. “He’s very intelligent, he’s done a nice job in practice and he’s been, this whole season, learning how to get yourself ready and understanding the rhythm of an NFL week and what that looks like as a back-up.

“I feel like he’s now ready to go in there as an NFL starter.”

The Browns arrive in the United Kingdom on the back of a 34-10 loss to the Detroit Lions, during which Flacco surrendered two first-half interceptions before being replaced by Gabriel late on the final possession.

Gabriel takes the reins on a Cleveland offense ranking second-worst in scoring and sixth-worst in total yards.

The 24-year-old spent time at UCF, Oklahoma and Oregon across a six-year college career, posting a career-best 326 of 447 passing for 3,857 yards and 30 touchdowns to six interceptions with the latter across the 2024 campaign.

Flacco re-signed with the Browns on a one-year deal in the offseason having clinched 2023 Comeback Player of the Year with the team prior to spending a campaign with the Indianapolis Colts.

Minnesota are coming off their 24-21 defeat to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Dublin, Ireland as they prepare to become the first team in NFL history to play games in two different countries outside of the United States in the same season.

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