There was a time Cleveland Browns head coach Todd Monken praised Dillon Gabriel for making the most out of the limited reps he’s been getting at training camp. But that was before the second preseason game. Now, as the Browns gear up to face the New England Patriots for the preseason finale without their starters, it’s make-or-break for Gabriel.

On ESPN Cleveland’s The Really Big Show, Browns analyst Tony Grossi was asked whether the preseason finale is “a bigger night for Dillon Gabriel or Taylen Green.” Grossi dropped a brutal reality check for the second-year quarterback.

“I think Gabriel, because I think Taylen Green’s roster spot is more secured than Gabriel’s is, because of what he might mean in the future,” Grossi said. “Gabriel has not looked great this whole summer, and this is his chance to show Monken that he’s worth keeping – and Andrew Berry for that matter. Andrew Berry is going to make this call more so than the head coach.”

Now, Coach Monken has already declared veteran quarterback Deshaun Watson as the QB1, with Shedeur Sanders as the backup behind him. As for Gabriel, the last time he took the field – in preseason week 2 against the Buffalo Bills – he tried to throw just one pass, and the Browns got three false start flags in that possession. Even Coach Monken ran out of words to describe it later.

“At the end, you wanna talk about (expletive) football,” Monken said. “I don’t care who goes out there. If I could have taken a knee, I probably would have. What the (expletive)? I don’t know what to tell you. We work on cadence and operation, and we will continue to do it. You can’t lead an offense if you can’t lead a cadence.”

Now, Coach Monken has given Dillon Gabriel the start for the Patriots game, with Taylen Green taking the field later in the game. But when Monken made this announcement, his words felt like he was more excited about Green than Gabriel.

“I’m excited for Dillon and seeing Taylen,” Monken said. “We went through the first couple of games, the way we went about it, Taylen did a great job over the course of time with limited reps and going against the Bills, really executing our offense at a high level. So, I’m excited to get him out there and see him play.”

All the quarterbacks – Watson, Sanders, and Gabriel have had their struggles this offseason. Even though Taylen Green lands fourth on the depth chart as a rookie, he provides a sort of untapped potential in terms of what he could do on the gridiron when given the chance. Whatever happens in this preseason could finally determine the future for both Gabriel and Green.

All the teams need to finalize their 53-man roster by 30th August, which directly translates to major roster cuts. To survive this, Gabriel has to show that he can actually compete against good teams, and he couldn’t have asked for a better team to perform against than the one that just reached the Super Bowl last season. Ball out, and Gabriel gives general manager Andrew Berry a reason to keep him around. Struggle, and if the Browns cut him, the prospect of another team claiming him off waivers also feels like a tall order. A single preseason game never had so much at stake.