For most of the first two nights of the NFL Draft, the biggest surprise was the fact that Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders was not selected.
But then, late in the third round, the Cleveland Browns found a way to top that.
When they made their selection with the 90th overall pick on Friday night — their fifth pick of the first two days — they didn’t just pass on Sanders again. They passed on him in favor of a quarterback almost nobody thought would go in the first three rounds. Cleveland took Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel, a 24-year-old who stands just 5-foot-11 and was a six-year starter at three different schools.
Nobody, anywhere, thought he had a shot of getting drafted ahead of Sanders. By this point, Sanders was already having a miserable draft experience. But the Browns’ choice had to make it exponentially worse.
Of course, to the Browns it made perfect sense. Clearly, they are desperate for a quarterback of the future, since their current QB room consists of 40-year-old Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett and Deshaun Watson, who has torn his Achilles twice. But like everyone else in the NFL, they’ve obviously re-evaluated Sanders, who not that long ago was widely considered one of the top two quarterbacks in this draft.
Gabriel would’ve been lucky to crack the top 10 on most lists, but the Browns somehow decided he was worth making the fifth quarterback taken off the board. They seemed to love the extensive game film they saw of him during his time at Central Florida, Oklahoma and then Oregon. And they got a real good look at him at the Senior Bowl, where Browns assistant head coach and special teams coordinator Bubba Ventrone coached against his team.
“Decorated college career, very accurate, very poised, throws with the anticipation, good mobility,” said Browns GM Andrew Berry. “We just thought he had a really well-rounded game. The biggest negative that you say about him is he doesn’t have ideal height, but that’s not something that we felt like showed up in his game.”
His 5-11 height may not have been an issue in college, but it often takes a special talent to make it a non-issue in the pros. Gabriel clearly overcame it during his six collegiate seasons, throwing just 32 interceptions in the 64 games he played. In two seasons at Oklahoma (2022-23), he threw for 55 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. And he was outstanding in his one year for the Ducks, completing 72.9% of his passes for 3,857 yards, 30 touchdowns and six interceptions. He finished third in Heisman voting.
At no point, though, did anyone seem to consider him to be on the same level as Sanders — a player who not long ago some draft experts thought the Browns might take with the second overall pick. In fact, not only was Gabriel considered a much lesser prospect than the four other quarterbacks who had already been drafted — Cam Ward, Jaxson Dart, Tyler Shough and Jalen Milroe — but he was rarely mentioned in the next group with Texas‘ Quinn Ewers, Ohio State’s Will Howard and Syracuse‘s Kyle McCord.
So what do the Browns think they know that nobody else does?
“We really felt strongly about Dillon throughout this process,” Berry said. “We felt he’s a really strong, really good prospect. We think he’s an excellent player.”
They also weren’t scared off by his age. “The guy’s been a starting quarterback since he was 18 years old,” Browns coach Kevin Stefanski said. “So we didn’t feel like that was a major detriment in terms of his profile.”
Nor were they worried about his size. “It hasn’t held him back in his career,” Stefanski said. “He’s been that height for a long time, and he finds a way to get it done.”
Sanders, of course, got it done at Colorado, put up better numbers and stands two inches taller. But something about Deion Sanders’ kid clearly hasn’t sat well with the NFL. He was widely expected to be a first-round pick, but he’s awaiting the fourth round when Day 3 of the draft begins on Saturday.
The fourth round, by the way, was the most optimistic projection for where Gabriel was going to be selected. Given the way NFL evaluators view this quarterback class as a whole, it seemed more likely that he’d end up being selected even later than that.
But all it takes is one, and for Gabriel that one was the Browns, who have a long history of making really strange quarterback decisions. Despite all of the reasons — real or imagined — that have caused Sanders to go on this wild free-fall, he figured to be the safer prospect. He’s undoubtedly been humbled by his draft experience. The Browns could have let him sit for a year, maybe two, so they could work on his flaws and help him reach the considerable upside everyone once believed he had.
Instead, they’ll take their chances on Gabriel, whose ceiling almost certainly figures to be lower. Maybe they’ll be right, but they’re working against their own star-crossed quarterback history. Sanders would’ve been considered a steal for them late in Round 3. But they reached for their quarterback of the future instead of reaching for a potential star.
Ralph Vacchiano is an NFL Reporter for FOX Sports. He spent the previous six years covering the Giants and Jets for SNY TV in New York, and before that, 16 years covering the Giants and the NFL for the New York Daily News. Follow him on Twitter at @RalphVacchiano.
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