One Way Or Another
As the 2025 NFL Draft has come to a close, it’s been widely acknowledged that Cleveland had a good-to-very-good draft. They might not have used their second overall pick to take the player with the highest ceiling, but they did use the pick to properly set themselves up for the future. In the trade with Jacksonville, they acquired the fifth overall pick (DT Mason Graham), the 37th overall pick, (RB Quinshon Judkins), the 126th pick (RB Dylan Sampson), and the Jags' 2026 first-round pick. Coupled with their own picks, they were able to address needs on the defensive side of the ball in Graham and LB Carson Schwesinger, as well as add to their meager offense with Judkins, Sampson, and TE Harold Fannin Jr. There were two other picks, however, that had the Browns made one or the other, would have made this draft a certified slam dunk.
With their second third-round pick, the Browns took Oregon QB Dillion Gabriel. The pick might have been a round or two early, but you can smooth over some of those things when you see his accolades: a six-year player, tied for most TDs thrown in FBS history, Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year, and third team All-American as he led the Ducks to the Big Ten championship game. The 5’11”, 205lbs Gabriel is a little undersized but has a big arm and quickly scans the field with amazing defensive awareness. He fits the Stefanski offense as a multi-read, quick passing offense with built-in deep shots. Gabriel was not expected to be the fifth QB taken in the draft, but when you consider that Cleveland did their homework on the college veteran, it makes sense that he checked all the boxes.
And then in the fifth round, all hell broke loose. In the midst of a swan dive from the projected top of the draft, Shedeur Sanders finally had his name called by the Browns. Sanders had question marks coming into draft week, as many were projecting a small drop, maybe to the bottom of the first round where someone would trade up for the mercurial QB. However, it was two full days and 144 picks before he found a home in the NFL. Sanders had a bad combination of subprime traits and poor interview skills that enabled his drop. Personally, I had at one point talked myself into Sanders as the 1.2 pick of the draft, and had changed my mind when I saw/heard so many pundits predict a drop due to his lack of workouts and the off-the-wall behaviors he displayed. (Headphones on and still playing music while interviewing, lack of prep when teams presented him with install packages.) It’s possible that Sanders can make a push to start this year, as head coach Kevin Stefanski has said any quarterback in the room will be expected to compete for starting time. The positive for Cleveland is that you’d expect Sanders to likely be coming into camp as the most humble/hungry version of himself, fresh off all 32 teams telling him repeatedly that they did not want his services nor his distractions. This might not be true as you’d hope, given he hosted a draft party over the weekend with NFL players like CeeDee Lamb and Dak Prescott.
As I said, the move to pick two quarterbacks is what is most perplexing. When Cleveland didn’t trade up into the first or second rounds to take a signal caller, it was expected that they were going to select one to be a developmental project behind veterans Joe Flacco and Kenny Pickett. Taking Gabriel and Sanders both causes the head to need scratching. It’s unlikely that both will be on the roster come game days, with one or the other likely getting pushed to the practice squad and the other getting cut. It’s also possible that Flacco or Pickett are dealt away to help recoup some value or players if/when injuries happen, opening the door for both rookies to be on the active roster for gamedays (One would be the QB3 and inactive unless an injury happened, but you get it.)
So where does that leave Cleveland in 2025? They will have to make a decision in August as to how they want to handle their roster. There’s the Deshaun Watson of it all, but Cleveland has repeatedly made it appear that he will not be around again and the looming ankle injury makes it easy for him to hide on the PUP/IR list. So that takes one of the five out of the mix. You’d think that Flacco figures to be the betting favorite, as he has the most success in the NFL and pushed the Browns to the playoffs in 2023. Alas, DraftKings does have odds that put Flacco behind the eight ball with a +1200 market. Pickett is their favorite at -110 and Sanders next at +175. Will the less-than-tall Gabriel get waived? Will Cleveland hope that some other organization sees Sanders as a more viable backup and would be willing to inherit the headache that might come with him? Do either Gabriel or Sanders start a game this year? We will have to wait and see. One way or another, Cleveland will have some sort of answer for their QB position this season.
