The Cleveland Browns had aspirations of a better season going into this year’s training camp. They would feature a new quarterback, although it wasn’t clear which of the five would start, a new offensive
coordinator, new players in the safety room, at running back, receiver, and three new linebackers.
But the new boss so far has been the same as the old boss, as the song goes.
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The Browns lost 14 games last year. They are 1-5-0 so far this season. But the good news is that the schedule opens up a bit on the softer side beginning this weekend against the 1-5-0 Miami Dolphins.
Cleveland defensive end Alex Wright was recently a guest on the Yahoo! Sports Daily podcast with hosts Jason Fitz and Caroline Fenton to discuss how this year is progressing.
Wright is playing in his fourth season, so he is a younger veteran. He was selected by the Browns in the third round of the 2022 NFL draft out of UAB, where he was named to the Conference USA All-Freshman team. He was voted Second Team All-C USA in 2021 and then declared for the draft.
Currently, he is listed as the backup to Isaiah McGuire for the right defensive end position, although he plays quite a bit. This season, he has played 158 snaps, which is 44.26% of all defensive plays. McGuire has the other percentage points, so they swap in and out all game.
The interview with Yahoo! Sports Daily went as follows:
Q: There’s a new quarterback in Cleveland. Dillon Gabriel has taken over the starting role. What’s he like as a person, as a competitor, and in the locker room? How has he been taking over this role?
Wright: “As a rookie, you’d be surprised. I consider myself a young vet, considering the fact of the age that I came in, and just to see him, his preparation for the game. I would come in, and he would be like one of the first people in, one of the last people to leave, just working on mechanics and stuff with the assistant coaches.
You see it, like we’ll be at lunch or we’ll be getting ready to leave or I’ll be getting to go home after the meetings and stuff, and he’ll be out there with the assistant coaches going through just cadences, calls, just walking through his steps and stuff like that. So, for him to be that type of person, he takes the game very seriously, and as a person, he’s like, he speaks to everybody. It doesn’t matter if you’re defense, special teams, or whether you’re the lunch ladies, whether just him being that type of type of kid just coming in with a smile on his face and just knowing he’s just happy to come to, happy to come to work.
I know he doesn’t take it for granted. Last week in Minnesota, I gave him a fist pump after the game, and I tell you, you keep your head up at the end of the day. This is the NFL, and this is how it’s gonna work. Sometimes you, what’s gonna happen is not gonna happen. Sometimes things don’t work out the way you want them to. It’s not gonna be easy.
It’s not gonna be just as simple, so at the end, I respect the way he put his head down at work, and it’s the consistency of that.”
Q: And this is such an exciting rookie class, even outside of Dillon and Shedeur (Sanders), looking at Mason Graham, Quinshon Judkins, Dylan Sampson, Harold Fannin. I know I’m missing some, but this is such a fun rookie class, at least from our standpoint, from watching and observing and covering this team. What kind of impact has this rookie class had on the vets in the locker room?
Wright: “The fact that they’re willing to come in and just work, not only work like rookies but work like vets. And you can tell there’s not, there’s not a drop-off, and just like, I see Myles (Garrett) said, just because they’re young, the standard is still the same. Like we’re still, we’re still here to win games.
We’re still here to do our job individually and as a team, and it’s our job to hold them accountable and show them the ropes and the time management of being in the NFL.
So, for them as a whole, rookie class though, they’re taking it on well. Quinshon is running the ball well. Mason is off to a great start as a rookie. Carson is a dog. He’s a commander of the defense, and for him to be a rookie, you see how he just pops out on tape. It’s kinda like, okay, you wouldn’t even think he was a rookie.
The age is there, but once it’s time to get on the field, it’s like you don’t feel like they’re rookies.
You feel like they’ve been here before.”
2025 Browns rookie class stats after six games
DT Mason Graham: 6 starts, 14 total tackles, 2.3 average tackles a game, 1 missed tackle, .05 sacks, 2 QB hits, 3 pressures, 1 knockdown, 1 hurry, 266 defensive snaps (75%), 33 special teams snaps (20%)
LB Carson Schwesinger: 6 starts, 52 total tackles, 8.7 average tackles a game, 3 tackles for loss, 4 missed tackles, 1.0 sacks, 3 QB hits, 3 pressures, 1 knockdown, 1 hurry, 350 defensive snaps (98%), 54 special teams snaps (33%)
RB Quinshon Judkins: 5 starts, 84 carries for 383 yards, 4.6 yards per carry average, 76.6 yards per game average, 2 rushing touchdowns, 24 first down conversions, 9 receptions for 62 yards, 3 first down receiving conversions, 0 drops, 167 offensive snaps (47%)
TE Harold Fannin: 5 starts, 38 targets, 28 receptions for 254 yards, 12 first down receiving conversions, 0 drops, 73.7% catch ratio, 9.1 yards per reception average, 42.3 yards per game average, 1 touchdown, 24 first down conversions, 2 carries for 4 yards, 321 offensive snaps (74%), 45 special teams snaps (28%)
QB Dillon Gabriel: 2 starts, 51 completions on 89 attempts for 430 yards, 4.8 yards per completion average, 107.5 yards per game average, 3 passing touchdowns, 0 interceptions, 57.3% completion ratio, 22 first down conversions, 100.0 QB rating, 8 times sacked, 2 rushes for 5 yards, 0 rushing touchdowns, 162 offensive snaps (56%)
RB Dylan Sampson: 1 start, 22 carries for 43 yards, 2.0 yards per carry average, 7.2 yards per game average, 0 rushing touchdowns, 4 first down conversions, 14 receptions for 95 yards, 5 first down receiving conversions, 1 receiving touchdown, 0 drops, 5 kickoff returns for 124 yards, 24.8 yards per return average, 0 return touchdowns, 86 offensive snaps (20%), 29 special teams snaps (18%)
QB Shedeur Sanders: 0 stats
