Dillon Gabriel has played more games than anyone in the history of college football and, on Oct. 5, the 2024 Heisman Trophy finalist made his first professional start. Drafted from Oregon in the third round of the 2025 NFL Draft by the Cleveland Browns, Gabriel took over for Joe Flacco before the Browns’ Week 5 trip to face the Minnesota Vikings in London, England.

The Cleveland quarterback room, which includes fifth-round rookie Shedeur Sanders and lists Deshaun Watson on injured reserve, was wide-open before the season. After Flacco (who was traded to the Cincinnati Bengals on Oct. 7) opened the year with two touchdown passes and six interceptions through four games, the team announced that Gabriel would start against the Vikings.

“I’m excited for Dillon,” Oregon head coach Dan Lanning said during the Ducks’ bye week. “He’s the guy that works extremely hard, and I know he won’t take it for granted. He’s done an unbelievable job of staying connected with our players here, which is pretty awesome for a guy that’s moving on with the next phase of his life, that he still touches base with our team, but I’m excited for him. I’m excited for his opportunity, and I know he’ll make the absolute best of it.”

On Sunday, Gabriel threw for 190 yards and two touchdowns as Cleveland (1-4) lost, 21-17, to Minnesota (3-2). He located tight ends Harold Fannin Jr. and David Njoku for the two scores and used eight total receivers on 58% efficiency. The Browns, though, couldn’t score after the 3:05 mark in the third quarter and lost on a Jordan Addison touchdown with 25 seconds left. 

The 24-year-old averaged 8.9 yards per attempt during his college career, including 9.37 in his year at Oregon, but hit just an average of just 5.8 against the Vikings. He’s now thrown for three touchdowns this season — he connected with fellow rookie Dylan Sampson in a blowout loss to the Baltimore Ravens in Week 2 — and remains an option in Cleveland.

Elsewhere, Bo Nix (24-39, 242 yds, TD) and the Denver Broncos dealt the previously undefeated Philadelphia Eagles their first loss, 21-17. Former Ducks receiver Troy Franklin (3 rec., 35 yds) continued to stake his claim as a threat among the Broncos’ room, and now has 231 yards on 21 receptions this season after totaling only 28 and 263 in 16 games last season.

Deforest Buckner had his first sack of the season to go with six total tackles as the Indianapolis Colts continued their resurgence with a 40-6 beatdown of the Las Vegas Raiders, while Tez Johnson caught four passes for 59 yards in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ 38-35 win over the Seattle Seahawks. Bucky Irving, the second-year breakout star who leads the Buccaneers in rushing yards (237) and triples the next-closest back in carries, was held out with an injury.

Justin Herbert (22-29, 166 yds, TD, INT, 60 rushing yds.) was held to just 5.7 yards per attempt and sacked four times as the Los Angeles Chargers fell, 27-10, to the Washington Commanders. Troy Dye led the Chargers in tackles with 11, and had three tackles for loss to lead the game, but the Los Angeles offense didn’t score after the first quarter and gave up 27 unanswered points.

Finally, New England Patriots cornerback Christian Gonzalez returned from injury to appear on “Sunday Night Football” against the Buffalo Bills, where he made six tackles and registered a pass defensed in the 23-20 win.