The Cleveland Browns entered the offseason with a major need at quarterback.
They responded by trading for one, signing another and drafting two.
The Browns shocked plenty of people when they selected Dillon Gabriel in the third round of the 2025 NFL Draft, and that decision was even harder to explain when they took Shedeur Sanders the following day.
According to Michael Silver of The Athletic, multiple teams tried to trade for Gabriel shortly after that, but the Browns just weren’t interested.
“After trading up to take Sanders in the fifth round, the Browns rejected multiple trade offers for Gabriel, preferring to move forward with both rookies. Sanders, who sat out Saturday’s practice with a sore throwing shoulder, has gotten fewer first-team reps than Gabriel thus far. Gabriel was limited by hamstring tightness on Monday,” Silver wrote.
Multiple reports showed that the Browns were quite high on Gabriel from the first time they met with him.
He entered training camp as the third quarterback behind Joe Flacco and Kenny Pickett, and that hasn’t changed despite some reported struggles.
For most of the pre-draft process, many scouts and experts considered Gabriel to be a backup and not a starting-caliber NFL prospect.
Even so, it makes perfect sense that the team wants to hold on to its rookies, at least for the time being.
They still need to figure out what to do with the veterans, though.
Going into the season with four quarterbacks on the 53-man roster might not be wise, and if Pickett isn’t going to get some key reps because of his hamstring injury, perhaps it will be better to part with him.
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