It was not exactly a secret that the Cleveland Browns were going to have to address their quarterback situation in the 2025 NFL Draft. It is also not a huge surprise that they ended up with Shedeur Sanders.
The surprise was the way all of that was handled.
Instead of taking Sanders in the first or second round (as might have been expected), they took him when he slid down to the fifth round, and after they had selected a different quarterback — Dillon Gabriel — in the third round.
It was unconventional to take two quarterbacks in the middle rounds, and creates quite a log-jam on a roster that already had Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett and Deshaun Watson.
It was also a little confusing, and it would be easy to conclude that Gabriel, as a third-round pick, might have been the most confused out of anybody.
Gabriel talked about his reaction on Saturday during the Browns’ rookie camp, and it might not be what you expect.
He loved it.
“Yeah, I love it. You know, I love it because of who it is. I think just for us both, you can learn from one another. But also, it’s not just us two in the room. At least for right now [during rookie minicamp] is, but, you know, going into the year, Kenny [Pickett], Joe [Flacco] and even Deshaun [Watson], just a bunch of guys who played a bunch of ball that we can all learn from one another.”
It is also worth pointing out that what he says to the media and what he actually believes deep down could be two very different things, but he definitely is saying all of the right things. When you are a third-round pick at quarterback, especially on a team that has not found a consistent starter in decades, you are probably going in with the expectation of eventually being a starter. Or at least having a chance to compete for it.
In this case not only did the team take somebody else just two rounds later, they took one of the most polarizing and prominent quarterbacks in the class that is going to command most of the attention.
There is still very clearly going to be an open competition among the veterans and rookies, and from a practical standpoint Gabriel should be starting higher on the depth chart than Sanders. He was, after all, the higher pick. Cleveland already told everybody they think he is a better quarterback, just based on draft order. That does not mean it will necessarily play out that way on the field.
