Browns shock NFL Draft with Dillon Gabriel pick to answer QB question instead of Shedeur Sanders

Billy Heyen

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Browns shock NFL Draft with Dillon Gabriel pick to answer QB question instead of Shedeur Sanders image

The NFL Draft has officially gone off the rails.

The Cleveland Browns aided in Shedeur Sanders' massive slide by picking their own quarterback late in the third round.

Instead of the consensus first-rounder Sanders, the Browns chose Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel.

It's shocking. It's unbelievable. It's impossible.

Earlier in 2025, the Browns legitimately were considered an option to take Sanders at No. 2 overall.

Instead, with the No. 94 pick, with Sanders still on the board, they chose Gabriel.

"Very accurate, very poised, throws with anticipation, good mobility," Browns GM Andrew Berry told reporters. "....really well rounded game. Doesn't have ideal height but that's not something we thought showed up in his game."

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This isn't anything against Gabriel. Maybe he's worth the 94th pick. He tied the FBS record for career TD passes and is a supremely accurate left-handed passer.

But the native of Hawaii is just 5-foot-11, played six years in college and simply isn't as gifted as Sanders.

The Browns will likely have to sit Gabriel behind either Kenny Pickett or Joe Flacco.

They could've been sitting the uber-talented Sanders behind them, too.

Something has gone horribly wrong with Sanders.

And so even though the Browns need a franchise QB, they drafted the short 24-year old.

The NFL appears to be in a hivemind scenario here, all avoiding Sanders.

And now the Browns are hoping Gabriel can solve their decades of QB woes.

Sanders was supposed to be the guy to solve those. Gabriel probably won't be.

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Billy Heyen

Billy Heyen is a freelance writer with The Sporting News. He is a 2019 graduate of Syracuse University who has written about many sports and fantasy sports for The Sporting News. Sports reporting work has also appeared in a number of newspapers, including the Sandusky Register and Rochester Democrat & Chronicle