The Cleveland Browns turned plenty of heads when they took Dillon Gabriel in the third round of the 2025 NFL Draft.
Some teams reportedly didn’t even have the Oregon quarterback on their board, and he was expected to be a late-round pick, if at all.
However, while the perception was that the Browns reached to get him, a report by Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated might justify their decision to take him so early.
“I’d confirm Mike Silver’s report that the Browns got trade offers for Dillon Gabriel on the Saturday morning of draft weekend, which essentially confirms the interested teams were prepared to take him in the fourth round (despite perception that he was overdrafted in the third round). How did the idea that he could go that high fly under the radar? I’ve heard Gabriel crushed his meetings with teams, and many saw his floor, as a result, as a long-term backup,” Breer wrote.
Gabriel doesn’t have the ideal size of an NFL quarterback, and he doesn’t make up for that with any elite traits.
He’s also left-handed, which poses a different challenge for the offensive line.
However, he’s a hard-working and focused young player and may have said all the right things in his interviews.
Then again, as Breer pointed out, the perception around him has always been that of a backup, not a starter.
He can be a valuable draft pick if he turns out to be a long-term backup for the organization, but it seems like the chances of being a starting-caliber quarterback are slim at best.
Hopefully, he will prove that his floor is significantly higher than it seemed at first.
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