QB Dillon Gabriel, CLE (2 Viewers)

[Faust]

Dillon Gabriel Draft and Combine Prospect Profile (NFL.com)

Insiders explain why Browns drafted Dillon Gabriel before Shedeur Sanders

Browns GM Gets Honest About Shocking Dillon Gabriel Pick

Browns NFL Draft: Greg Cosell praises one of Cleveland’s rookie quarterbacks

 

[Faust]

Why Browns passed on Shedeur Sanders on Day 2 and took … Dillon Gabriel?

 

[Faust]

@thedawgspodcast
Nathan Zegura said Dillon Gabriel was the number two quarterback on the Browns board after Cam Ward.

He said Gabriel wins the way Kevin Stefanski wants his quarterback to win.
- Great decision maker
- Accurate from the pocket
- Can throw on the move from both directions
- Excellent pocket movement

Stefanski also told Zegura that, while they were watching the tape, the team kept asking, “Where does the height show up?”

The biggest knock against Gabriel is his height, which is listed at 5’11”. But his smaller stature didn’t prevent him from being the most productive quarterback in college football history.

Zegura said:

“If Dillon Gabriel is 6’3”, he probably is the number two [overall] pick in this draft.”

It’s crazy to think that four inches could be the only difference between being the number two pick in the draft and going late in the third round.

But if that’s truly the case, then the Browns got a legitimately talented quarterback at a serious value.

https://x.com/thedawgspodcast/status/1919384137208582618?s=61

 

[barackdhouse]

Welcome aboard at 5.03 in SuperFlex.

 

[Bracie Smathers]

@thedawgspodcast
Nathan Zegura said Dillon Gabriel was the number two quarterback on the Browns board after Cam Ward.

He said Gabriel wins the way Kevin Stefanski wants his quarterback to win.
- Great decision maker
- Accurate from the pocket
- Can throw on the move from both directions
- Excellent pocket movement

Stefanski also told Zegura that, while they were watching the tape, the team kept asking, “Where does the height show up?”

The biggest knock against Gabriel is his height, which is listed at 5’11”. But his smaller stature didn’t prevent him from being the most productive quarterback in college football history.

Zegura said:

“If Dillon Gabriel is 6’3”, he probably is the number two [overall] pick in this draft.”

It’s crazy to think that four inches could be the only difference between being the number two pick in the draft and going late in the third round.

But if that’s truly the case, then the Browns got a legitimately talented quarterback at a serious value.

https://x.com/thedawgspodcast/status/1919384137208582618?s=61

2025 NFL draft: Experts debate best and worst picks, awards

Who was the biggest head-scratching pick of the draft?​

Kahler: Quarterbacks Dillon Gabriel (No. 94) and Shedeur Sanders (No. 144) to the Browns. Several scouts and executives I spoke to really started scratching their heads with the Gabriel pick,
Solak: Gabriel to the Browns. It's tough for me to find a rosy future for Gabriel, who lacks the size necessary to make all the throws on an NFL field. He also doesn't have the compensatory arm talent and movement skills that shorter quarterbacks like Kyler Murray and Russell Wilson have. I struggle to find a world where Gabriel really makes waves in that Browns QB room, even if Sanders wasn't there.

 

[Faust]

John Frascella (Football)
People make fun of Dillon Gabriel for being short, but THIS is what he can do for you… spot the damn ball, drop it right in Harold Fannin’s hands, back of the endzone money

https://x.com/nflfrascella/status/1920950307611091388?s=61

 

[Faust]

Gabriel embracing addition of Sanders to Browns' QB competition

 

[General Malaise]

Even the most myopic fan of the Oregon Ducks never had any projections of Gabriel being anything more than a career backup and that's a great job. But he showed me nothing that indicated NFL starter ability. His final game at Oregon was an abject failure.

Cleveland drafted him to throw teams off the scent that they wanted Sanders all along. Imo.

 

[ghostguy123]

Waste of a pick

 

[menobrown]

Waste of a pick

Hard to not agree. It's like they got that draft capital from the move back to 5 and got drunk on it.

 

[General Malaise]

Waste of a pick

Not if he's their backup QB for the next 5 years.

 

[ghostguy123]

Waste of a pick

Not if he's their backup QB for the next 5 years.

A GOOD backup, sure. Big if though

 

[Soulfly3]

Waste of a pick

Not if he's their backup QB for the next 5 years.

A GOOD backup, sure. Big if though

This is hopefully how it works out... Shadeur looking good, and was underdrafted (I dont care what anyone wants to argue)... If the Footballing Angels want to finally smile brightly on the Browns, and let's hope it happens, Shadeur actually becomes a starter, and Dillon a capable backup...

And we have 4+yrs to get everything in order around the QB, while paying them literally nothing.... You know... since the other guy still milking tens of millions as we speak

 

[General Malaise]

Waste of a pick

Not if he's their backup QB for the next 5 years.

A GOOD backup, sure. Big if though

Agreed, but how many GOOD backups are there in the NFL? I think he's bright enough to understand the offense immediately and has enough mobility and speed to stay in the league. He can go off script if need be, but that's not to say he's a running QB - not at this level, he'll get killed, but he can scoot.

I don't think he's the starter in Cleveland....or anywhere else for that matter. Could be wrong, but he's just too small.

 

[menobrown]

The acquisition costs for Pickett and Sanders are cheap enough not to quibble about it but I feel like a mistake the Browns are making is not understanding the environment they play in with respect to building their QB room.

Pickett's played his entire pro and college career in the North East but his tiny hands struggle with a wet ball and he's not got a lot of arm strength to power the ball through elements.

Sanders seems like he could do ok in the elements but just parroting Daniel Jeremiah he tried to make the point often in the draft lead up that he thought Sanders arm strength was not great and when he'd point to Saints or Raiders as possible landing spots he'd always cite him playing in a dome would be the best thing for him.

Gabriel could not possibly be a worse fit for the the stadium/weather and that is what surprised me about picking him as much as anything. If a dome team or Dolphins had taken him in round 3 I'd have thought it was a shaky pick but could see the vision behind it.

Flacco's probably only QB on the roster really built to play in Cleveland. One of the oddest QB rooms I can ever recall and the most expensive one to acquire is by far the oddest fit.

 

[Todem]

Waste of a pick

Might be the worst QB pick in the draft based on the round he was taken in.....like lighting fire to stacks and stacks of money.....incinerated wasted pick at that spot in the draft.

A giant OOOOOOF.

 

[Todem]

The acquisition costs for Pickett and Sanders are cheap enough not to quibble about it but I feel like a mistake the Browns are making is not understanding the environment they play in with respect to building their QB room.

Pickett's played his entire pro and college career in the North East but his tiny hands struggle with a wet ball and he's not got a lot of arm strength to power the ball through elements.

Sanders seems like he could do ok in the elements but just parroting Daniel Jeremiah he tried to make the point often in the draft lead up that he thought Sanders arm strength was not great and when he'd point to Saints or Raiders as possible landing spots he'd always cite him playing in a dome would be the best thing for him.

Gabriel could not possibly be a worse fit for the the stadium/weather and that is what surprised me about picking him as much as anything. If a dome team or Dolphins had taken him in round 3 I'd have thought it was a shaky pick but could see the vision behind it.

Flacco's probably only QB on the roster really built to play in Cleveland. One of the oddest QB rooms I can ever recall and the most expensive one to acquire is by far the oddest fit.

Oh please Meno......that's the Dolphins MO...reaching on crappy QB's....Tua was a ****ing reach at 5th overall with Herbert sitting right there.

Tua will be unemployed come 2026.

Set the Fins back 7 years.

 

[Zow]

Even the most myopic fan of the Oregon Ducks never had any projections of Gabriel being anything more than a career backup and that's a great job. But he showed me nothing that indicated NFL starter ability. His final game at Oregon was an abject failure.

Cleveland drafted him to throw teams off the scent that they wanted Sanders all along. Imo.

But... they could have just then drafted Sanders in the third and taken a more usable player in the spot they took Sanders.

 

[menobrown]

The acquisition costs for Pickett and Sanders are cheap enough not to quibble about it but I feel like a mistake the Browns are making is not understanding the environment they play in with respect to building their QB room.

Pickett's played his entire pro and college career in the North East but his tiny hands struggle with a wet ball and he's not got a lot of arm strength to power the ball through elements.

Sanders seems like he could do ok in the elements but just parroting Daniel Jeremiah he tried to make the point often in the draft lead up that he thought Sanders arm strength was not great and when he'd point to Saints or Raiders as possible landing spots he'd always cite him playing in a dome would be the best thing for him.

Gabriel could not possibly be a worse fit for the the stadium/weather and that is what surprised me about picking him as much as anything. If a dome team or Dolphins had taken him in round 3 I'd have thought it was a shaky pick but could see the vision behind it.

Flacco's probably only QB on the roster really built to play in Cleveland. One of the oddest QB rooms I can ever recall and the most expensive one to acquire is by far the oddest fit.

Oh please Meno......that's the Dolphins MO...reaching on crappy QB's....Tua was a ****ing reach at 5th overall with Herbert sitting right there.

Tua will be unemployed come 2026.

Set the Fins back 7 years.

His style if very similar to Tua's IMO right now to being a lefty. Felt like he was/is a discount version of Tua who might have enabled them to not make many changes if Tua was out.

 

[Todem]

The acquisition costs for Pickett and Sanders are cheap enough not to quibble about it but I feel like a mistake the Browns are making is not understanding the environment they play in with respect to building their QB room.

Pickett's played his entire pro and college career in the North East but his tiny hands struggle with a wet ball and he's not got a lot of arm strength to power the ball through elements.

Sanders seems like he could do ok in the elements but just parroting Daniel Jeremiah he tried to make the point often in the draft lead up that he thought Sanders arm strength was not great and when he'd point to Saints or Raiders as possible landing spots he'd always cite him playing in a dome would be the best thing for him.

Gabriel could not possibly be a worse fit for the the stadium/weather and that is what surprised me about picking him as much as anything. If a dome team or Dolphins had taken him in round 3 I'd have thought it was a shaky pick but could see the vision behind it.

Flacco's probably only QB on the roster really built to play in Cleveland. One of the oddest QB rooms I can ever recall and the most expensive one to acquire is by far the oddest fit.

Oh please Meno......that's the Dolphins MO...reaching on crappy QB's....Tua was a ****ing reach at 5th overall with Herbert sitting right there.

Tua will be unemployed come 2026.

Set the Fins back 7 years.

His style if very similar to Tua's IMO right now to being a lefty. Felt like he was/is a discount version of Tua who might have enabled them to not make many changes if Tua was out.

If they would have taken Gabriel I would have started a Dolphin fan support group to go to Nova Southeastern's campus and picket Grier to be fired.

They still blew this draft anyway......and they still will win maybe 6 games tops this season.......and it will take care of itself. But they went and grabbed Zach Wilson as Tua's back up ( he will play at least 7-8 games this season...maybe more)......and actually made a smart pick of Ewers in the last round of the draft so the new regime may be able to develop him.....because I want McDaniel no where near that kid....I want the entire front office and coaching staff fired.

Yesterday.

 

[menobrown]

The acquisition costs for Pickett and Sanders are cheap enough not to quibble about it but I feel like a mistake the Browns are making is not understanding the environment they play in with respect to building their QB room.

Pickett's played his entire pro and college career in the North East but his tiny hands struggle with a wet ball and he's not got a lot of arm strength to power the ball through elements.

Sanders seems like he could do ok in the elements but just parroting Daniel Jeremiah he tried to make the point often in the draft lead up that he thought Sanders arm strength was not great and when he'd point to Saints or Raiders as possible landing spots he'd always cite him playing in a dome would be the best thing for him.

Gabriel could not possibly be a worse fit for the the stadium/weather and that is what surprised me about picking him as much as anything. If a dome team or Dolphins had taken him in round 3 I'd have thought it was a shaky pick but could see the vision behind it.

Flacco's probably only QB on the roster really built to play in Cleveland. One of the oddest QB rooms I can ever recall and the most expensive one to acquire is by far the oddest fit.

Oh please Meno......that's the Dolphins MO...reaching on crappy QB's....Tua was a ****ing reach at 5th overall with Herbert sitting right there.

Tua will be unemployed come 2026.

Set the Fins back 7 years.

His style if very similar to Tua's IMO right now to being a lefty. Felt like he was/is a discount version of Tua who might have enabled them to not make many changes if Tua was out.

If they would have taken Gabriel I would have started a Dolphin fan support group to go to Nova Southeastern's campus and picket Grier to be fired.

They still blew this draft anyway......and they still will win maybe 6 games tops this season.......and it will take care of itself. But they went and grabbed Zach Wilson as Tua's back up ( he will play at least 7-8 games this season...maybe more)......and actually made a smart pick of Ewers in the last round of the draft so the new regime may be able to develop him.....because I want McDaniel no where near that kid....I want the entire front office and coaching staff fired.

Yesterday.

I actually like what the Dolpins did with the Wilson and Ewers picks. And fwiw when I thought Gabriel made sense it was more along the lines of a 5th-6th round pick.

Can't disagree the Phins look like a hot mess and I'd be pulling for an entire house cleaning if they were my team.

 

[Todem]

The acquisition costs for Pickett and Sanders are cheap enough not to quibble about it but I feel like a mistake the Browns are making is not understanding the environment they play in with respect to building their QB room.

Pickett's played his entire pro and college career in the North East but his tiny hands struggle with a wet ball and he's not got a lot of arm strength to power the ball through elements.

Sanders seems like he could do ok in the elements but just parroting Daniel Jeremiah he tried to make the point often in the draft lead up that he thought Sanders arm strength was not great and when he'd point to Saints or Raiders as possible landing spots he'd always cite him playing in a dome would be the best thing for him.

Gabriel could not possibly be a worse fit for the the stadium/weather and that is what surprised me about picking him as much as anything. If a dome team or Dolphins had taken him in round 3 I'd have thought it was a shaky pick but could see the vision behind it.

Flacco's probably only QB on the roster really built to play in Cleveland. One of the oddest QB rooms I can ever recall and the most expensive one to acquire is by far the oddest fit.

Oh please Meno......that's the Dolphins MO...reaching on crappy QB's....Tua was a ****ing reach at 5th overall with Herbert sitting right there.

Tua will be unemployed come 2026.

Set the Fins back 7 years.

His style if very similar to Tua's IMO right now to being a lefty. Felt like he was/is a discount version of Tua who might have enabled them to not make many changes if Tua was out.

If they would have taken Gabriel I would have started a Dolphin fan support group to go to Nova Southeastern's campus and picket Grier to be fired.

They still blew this draft anyway......and they still will win maybe 6 games tops this season.......and it will take care of itself. But they went and grabbed Zach Wilson as Tua's back up ( he will play at least 7-8 games this season...maybe more)......and actually made a smart pick of Ewers in the last round of the draft so the new regime may be able to develop him.....because I want McDaniel no where near that kid....I want the entire front office and coaching staff fired.

Yesterday.

I actually like what the Dolpins did with the Wilson and Ewers picks. And fwiw when I thought Gabriel made sense it was more along the lines of a 5th-6th round pick.

Can't disagree the Phins look like a hot mess and I'd be pulling for an entire house cleaning if they were my team.

If you want to take a shot in round 7....yeah. I saw enough of Gabriel to clearly see he is absolutely not an NFL QB.....I don't even think he is backup material.

 

[ghostguy123]

Browns shouldn't have even bothered with thinking about QB till round 5, maybe 6