Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel throws out a pass during the Oregon football’s Pro Day Tuesday, March 18, 2025, at the Moshofsky Center in Eugene, Ore.

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Cleveland Browns’ Andrew Berry, Kevin Stefanski Explain Selection of Dillon Gabriel Over Shedeur Sanders and Will Howard

The Browns believe Dillion Gabriel is their future

Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel throws out a pass during the Oregon football’s Pro Day Tuesday, March 18, 2025, at the Moshofsky Center in Eugene, Ore.

By the time day 2 of the 2025 NFL draft came to an end, the league sent out a loud and clear message on how it has evaluated former Colorado Buffaloes quarterback Shedeur Sanders. Hyped to be one of the top picks, if not the number one overall at one point in time, Sanders’ fall from grace has left the media and the general public with mixed reactions.

At the end of three rounds of the draft, a total of 5 quarterbacks have been selected and some names missing from that list are Will Howard, Quinn Ewers, and Sanders himself. The Tennessee Titans selecting Cam Ward with the first overall pick was not a surprise.

Following the selection of Ward, an argument can also be made in favor of Jaxson Dart, the second signal caller off the board taken by the New York Giants. But how is it that the Cleveland Browns, in desperate need of a franchise QB, end up drafting Dillon Gabriel ahead of the likes of Sanders and Howard?

With the No. 94 overall pick in the 2025 @NFLDraft, the @Browns select Dillon Gabriel.

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— NFL (@NFL) April 26, 2025

What did the Browns See In Dillon Gabriel?

Selecting players that fit your needs and the positions in the draft is an art that requires meticulous scouting. A lot of efforts go behind the scenes in studying the plethora of players available for selection from the collegiate level.

Following the conclusion of the draft on day 2, Browns’ GM Andrew Berry and head coach Kevin Stefanski spoke at length on how they evaluated Gabriel and how they felt he was the best player to pick among all the remaining players at that position.

Berry opened up the press conference by talking briefly about the players drafted by Cleveland on day 2, and he had the following to say with regard to Gabriel.

“We spent a lot of time with Dylan throughout this process, you know, brought him in right after the combine, did obviously the private visit and workouts. A decorated college career, very accurate, very poised, throws with anticipation, good mobility. We just thought he had a really well-rounded game.”

Berry also continued by mentioning that Gabriel’s height could be perceived as a possible red flag, but that is not something the Browns were too worried about, especially as they found no such problem during his college career.

“The biggest negative that you can say about him is like, he doesn’t have ideal height, but that’s not something that we felt like showed up in his game or his film.”

Also Read: Cam Skattebo Draft Projection – Where will the Arizona State RB Land?

Why Did Cleveland Pass Up On Sanders?

By now, there is a huge question mark, and no one from the outside really has any idea of why Sanders has slid so low. However, a reporter did pursue this angle while asking Berry why the Browns decided to go with Gabriel when Sanders was still available, to which the GM responded by saying that they always felt quite strongly about the former Oregon QB despite meeting with other potential candidates.

“We really felt strongly about Dylan throughout this process. He’s a really strong, really good prospect. That’s not to say that we didn’t meet with other quarterbacks that we thought were really talented players and good people, but we felt strongly about Dylan. We think he’s an excellent player and felt like he was the most appropriate player to pick.”

Gabriel may have to wait for his turn, though, as he will have to put in the hard work, learn the NFL system, and quite possibly take in as much information as he can from veteran quarterback Joe Flacco, who should be the starting quarterback for the Browns this season. Regardless, Cleveland may have drafted their future franchise quarterback, and it will be a journey worth keeping an eye out on.

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Devavrat Kulkarni

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I am a content writer for the NFL team, and joined The Playoffs after working with Sportskeeda and NFL Analysis as an NFL writer. After starting my professional career as a French-to-English translator, working as a content writer is a new adventure for me. I started out in the sports media field for two main reasons: my love for sports in general, especially the NFL, NBA, and Tennis, as well as my passion for writing. The best part of this job is that I get to write a variety of pieces with the freedom to explore content from various angles. It also enables me to stay up to date with the sporting world, which otherwise can be difficult to do in the day-to-day grind. In a world full of chaos, sports unite and entertain like nothing else!