{"id":40677,"date":"2025-12-27T23:51:23","date_gmt":"2025-12-27T23:51:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=40677"},"modified":"2025-12-27T23:51:23","modified_gmt":"2025-12-27T23:51:23","slug":"cleveland-browns-elevate-practice-squad-quarterback-due-to-dillon-gabriels-injury","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=40677","title":{"rendered":"Cleveland Browns elevate practice squad quarterback due to Dillon Gabriel&#8217;s injury"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_999,y_351,w_3750,h_2109\/c_fill,w_2160,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images%2FImagnImages%2Fmmsport%2Fbrowns_digest%2F01kdgpj6543r1jmsaydj.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-0\">The Cleveland Browns have suffered yet another handful of injuries.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\">And this time, a few more rookies have ended up on the injury report.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\">On Friday, Dec. 26, it was announced that rookie quarterback Dillon Gabriel and tight end Harold Fannin Jr. were injured in a practice ahead of the team&#8217;s Sunday afternoon matchup against the Pittsburgh Steelers.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\">Due to such events, the front office elevated practice squad quarterback Bailey Zappe to serve as the backup quarterback for the team.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\">Alongside the elevation of Zappe, the Browns also brought up tight end Sal Cannella to the roster. At 6-foot-5, he&#8217;s officially in his first season in the NFL after spending time with the Miami Dolphins, Green Bay Packers, Seattle Seahawks and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\">He played college ball at Auburn University.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">We&#39;ve elevated TE Sal Cannella and QB Bailey Zappe from the practice squad<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Cleveland Browns (@Browns) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Browns\/status\/2004963154993021215?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 27, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\">Zappe was selected in the fourth round of the 2022 NFL Draft with the 137th overall pick by the New England Patriots. He was expected to serve as a nice backup behind then-QB1 Mac Jones, but due to struggles and injuries, he took a handful of snaps over the course of two seasons.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\">Across 14 games and eight starts, he recorded 2,053 yards, 11 touchdowns and 12 interceptions on a 63.2% completion mark. He also rushed for 83 yards and one touchdown.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\">He wasn&#8217;t bad by any means, but certainly is expected to be a backup or practice squad quarterback for the foreseeable future.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-10\">In 2024, he started one game for the Browns, completing 16-of-31 passes for 170 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. Unfortunately, the Browns did end up losing that game, 35-10, in the final game of the season.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-11\">The Browns aren&#8217;t expected to see Zappe take any snaps under center on Sunday, as they&#8217;ve got their QB1, Shedeur Sanders, healthy and set to play.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-12\">Sanders has had an up-and-down season since taking over the starting role just a few weeks back, amassing an overall record of 1-4. He&#8217;s tossed for 1,108 yards and six touchdowns on a 55.1% completion mark. He&#8217;s also tacked on 14 carries for 123 yards and one touchdown, putting an end to the notion that he&#8217;s not a mobile quarterback.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-13\">If the 23-year-old does end up getting banged up, Zappe would be the next in line to start slinging the rock for Cleveland.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-14\">The Browns and Steelers will clash on Sunday, Dec. 28, with kickoff slated for 1:00 p.m. EST from Huntington Bank Field in Cleveland.<\/p>\n<figure><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Cleveland Browns have suffered yet another handful of injuries. And this time, a few more rookies have ended up on the injury report. On Friday, Dec. 26, it<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":40678,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cleveland-browns"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Cleveland Browns elevate practice squad quarterback due to Dillon Gabriel&#039;s injury - Breaking News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=40677\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cleveland Browns elevate practice squad quarterback due to Dillon Gabriel&#039;s injury - Breaking News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Cleveland Browns have suffered yet another handful of injuries. 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