The Cleveland Browns have four quarterbacks, technically five, but only three are probably going to make the team. While it seems as though the ageless Joe Flacco will be the team's Week 1 starter, it remains to be seen who will come out on top between veteran Kenny Pickett and a pair of rookies in Dillon Gabriel out of Oregon and Shedeur Sanders out of Colorado. I know who I am riding high with.
I may have been preoccupied with a cross-country wedding in the latter part of 2025 NFL Draft, but even from afar, I still found it so incredibly odd that the Browns took Gabriel and then Sanders a day later. The fact Gabriel came off the board ahead of Sanders baffles me to this day. In the days and weeks since the fateful draft in Green Bay, I have come to this one great realization in all of this mess.
Gabriel is not going to make this team. If he does, it is because Pickett does not or Flacco gets hurt or something. Barring something unforeseen, Sanders is undoubtedly making this team. His new head coach Kevin Stefanski cannot stop raving about him. With all the confidence in front of a microphone, and so much promise on the field, look for Sanders to make the most of his reps to earn his keep.
Sanders' ability to find the open receiver is why he should have been a first-round pick to begin with.
Gabriel needed to go to the right team to have staying power in the NFL. Cleveland is not that team...
Dillon Gabriel has to show his worth to even make the Cleveland Browns
It seems to have slipped my mind that Gabriel was a third-round pick by Cleveland. With how wonky the NFL Draft was, it is hard to keep everything straight. This was probably around when I would have taken him. The problem is Sanders should have come off the board much higher than the fifth round. How on God's green earth did Tyler Shough even go to the New Orleans Saints in the second round?
As I said earlier, where you land matters. Shough may get playing time in New Orleans, but the Saints could be the worst team in the NFL. He and his team will be up against it all year. Gabriel needed to go somewhere like the Seattle Seahawks instead of Jalen Milroe to have his best chance at success. He is older, injury-prone and left-handed. Michael Penix Jr. is all three of those things, but he went No. 8...
Overall, everything that we are hearing about Sanders at Browns rookie minicamp and OTAs has been positive. He may just be a personal marketing machine. Then again, he is finally away from the clutches of his overbearing father. People might be shocked to find out who he really is. So far, so good. Gabriel did not ask for this, but to be pitted against Sanders is a battle he is not going to win.
I feel for the guy, which is why I hope he ends up going to a situation that is a far better fit for him.