It has to be a joke at this point, with the punchline of how many quarterbacks will NFL front offices take before Shedeur Sanders. At first it felt like the New York Giants simply wanted Jaxson Dart and you could make the argument he was one of the top quarterbacks in this draft class.
But to tell me Tyler Shough, Jalen Milroe and now Dillon Gabriel are all better options than Shedeur Sanders, well that’s just plain wrong. I’m convinced at this point, Sanders is blacklisted before he even got a chance to get drafted. This is borderline collusion at display. This just doesn’t make sense.
The Cleveland Browns snagged Gabriel, who led Oregon to an undefeated season, entering the College Football Playoff. For the Browns, this move makes sense for a couple of reasons. He’s nothing more than a backup quarterback. They have two first-round picks in next year’s draft which seems to be a better class than this one.
Maybe Cleveland didn’t want to deal with Sanders and the spotlight that follows him. Maybe his ego was more than what the Browns wanted to deal with. But what they see in Gabriel can’t be anymore than a career backup that could take over if Joe Flacco implodes and Kenny Pickett ultimately looks like he has throughout his career.
Cleveland Browns taking Dillon Gabriel over Shedeur Sanders tells you everything you need to know about Sanders
Teams are continuing to back off Sanders and maybe it has something to do with his confidence and willingness to not sugarcoat things. He said after he wasn’t drafted in the first round that it was essentially not what should have happened. He’s not wrong.
But to fall this far, there’s more to it than just his on-the-field setbacks. Before the NFL draft, Gabriel was the eighth best quarterback prospect, per ESPN’s Mel Kiper. He was just drafted before Sanders in the third round.
Cleveland threw a major smoke screen during the pre-draft reports about how they felt about Sanders. Because even if they don’t think he’s a Day 1 starter, to draft Gabriel over Sanders pretty much sums up how they truly felt about him.
Gabriel probably won’t play much his rookie season and probably won’t play much with the Cleveland Browns in general. Their eyes are on a quarterback next year. Cleveland taking Gabriel over Sanders all but confirmed that.