The Browns waited until the back of the 2025 NFL Draft's third round to select a quarterback -- and stunned the rest of the league in the process.
Cleveland chose Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel with the 94th overall pick Friday night.
The pick is surprising both because most evaluations of Gabriel projected him as a Day 3 choice -- Daniel Jeremiah listed him as his 148th-best prospect out of 150 -- and because Gabriel was selected by the quarterback-needy Browns before Colorado's Shedeur Sanders. In fact, Gabriel wasn't even considered to be an option until just before the Browns were on the clock at No. 94.
"We really felt strongly about Dillon throughout this process," Browns general manager Andrew Berry told reporters on Friday when asked about the decision to take Gabriel with Sanders still on the board.
"Think he's a really strong, really, really good prospect. That's not to say that we didn't meet with other quarterbacks that we thought were really talented players and good people, but we felt strong about Dillon and felt he was the best quarterback to pick."
Sanders, who was considered one of the top QB prospects entering Thursday, went undrafted on Friday, and Gabriel marked the fifth QB taken in the first three rounds.
"The time that we spent with Shedeur and what he's done throughout his college career is impressive," Berry said. "He's an impressive young man. He's a really good quarterback. Sometimes fit comes into play."
Gabriel will head to Cleveland with backup expectations, but an intriguing chance to work his way up the quarterback ladder under the direction of head coach Kevin Stefanski. With Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett and Gabriel filling out their top three at the position as Deshaun Watson is set to possibly miss the upcoming season due to injury, the Browns don't have a clear-cut starter as of now.
In the perfect scenario, Gabriel follows the path of Russell Wilson, the 75th pick of the 2012 draft who won the job out of camp and became a star with the Seahawks. More realistically, Gabriel will learn the pro game behind either of the aforementioned, more experienced signal-callers.
Speaking of experience, Gabriel has an immense amount of it at the collegiate level. He spent his first three years at UCF, where he made 26 appearances and threw for 8,037 yards, 70 touchdowns and 14 interceptions before transferring to Oklahoma in 2022. He replaced Caleb Williams with the Sooners, racking up 6,828 yards, 55 touchdowns and 12 interceptions before it became clear coach Brent Venables preferred decorated youngster Jackson Arnold as his quarterback entering 2024, sending Gabriel back into the transfer portal and leading him to Oregon for his sixth and final collegiate season.
Gabriel flourished with the Ducks, throwing for 3,857 yards, 30 touchdowns and six interceptions while leading them to a 13-0 record, a Big Ten title and an appearance in the Rose Bowl in the College Football Playoff. His efforts also landed him a spot as a finalist for the Heisman Trophy.
At 5-foot-11, Gabriel is a smaller quarterback but was a consistent producer and an equally capable passer and runner in a number of different systems. Some might compare him to a lesser version of Baker Mayfield, who also made a name for himself at Oklahoma and was selected by the Browns, but with the first overall pick.
The expectations will be much lower for Gabriel, but the surprise remains.
