The Year 1 returns from Andrew Berry’s 2025 draft class might’ve saved his job, but his biggest whiff remains painfully obvious now some 300 days later.
Berry and the Cleveland Browns wound up making five selections inside the top 100 last year, following their blockbuster Day 1 trade with the Jacksonville Jaguars. But the decision to use one of those picks, No. 94 overall, on Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel remains baffling to fans.
For a team that, at the time, had a quarterback room of Kenny Pickett and Joe Flacco, with Deshaun Watson in the early stages of recovery from a re-ruptured Achilles tendon, the decision to throw a third-round dart on an undersized QB with questionable arm strength never made much sense. That the Browns selected another QB, Shedeur Sanders, two rounds later only complicated things further.
The Sanders pick still has an outside shot at hitting, but the overall point here remains the same. The Browns allowed themselves to enter Week 1 of the 2025 season with laughable options at quarterback, and they’re still chasing their tails at that position to this day.
The best-case scenario? The Browns are able to trade Gabriel to the Atlanta Falcons, where he’d be reunited with former head coach Kevin Stefanski, and find an affordable veteran who can add depth and competition to the room.
Names like Mac Jones and Kyler Murray have already been floated as potential targets. But another, way more realistic option could be shaking free in about a month — and Cleveland might just be his perfect fit.
Andrew Berry’s biggest 2025 mistake might get an unexpected Dolphins bailout
On Super Bowl Sunday, NFL insider Tom Pelissero dropped a Miami Dolphins update that should catch the attention of Browns fans.
Starting quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was benched in favor of late 2025 draft pick Quinn Ewers for the final three games of the regular season, and after ushering in a new regime led by head coach Jeff Hafley, Miami will most likely move on from Tagovailoa at the start of the new league year, per Pelissero.
Why would the Browns be interested in a QB who had 15 interceptions in 14 games last season (including three against Cleveland in Week 7)? He could possibly be available on a cheap, one-year deal while Miami continues to pay his massive guaranteed salary in 2026.
“The Dolphins have not communicated a final decision on Tua Tagovailoa’s future, but all signs are pointing toward Miami’s new regime moving on at QB,” Pelissero said. “A trade’s a possibility, but it’s complicated. The Dolphins would likely have to eat a large chunk of Tua’s $54 million fully guaranteed salary, and another $45.2 million dead-cap charge would immediately hit the cap this year.
A cut would be cleaner. It would allow them to spread that nearly $100 million in dead cap over two years. Expect a final decision on Tua prior to March 13, when another $3 million in 2027 would become fully guaranteed.”
From a Browns perspective, Tagovailoa’s situation feels very similar to Murray’s out in Arizona this offseason. They’re both former high draft picks with experience as franchise QBs, but their bad contracts make a trade this offseason next to impossible.
A post-June 1 release, as Pelissero lays out here, drastically changes the equation. Tagovailoa would be a free agent, but because his earnings would be paid out by Miami in 2026, he’d be in the market more for a good situation, rather than for a big contract; in theory, a team like the Browns — with no clear-cut QB1 entering free agency — could sign Tagovailoa on a one-year deal near the veteran minimum as a potential bridge to what could be a loaded 2027 draft.
One recent example was Daniel Jones. He was released during the 2024 season, signed with the Minnesota Vikings on a minimum contract while still collecting checks from the New York Giants, and then re-entered free agency in 2025 and signed a new deal with the Colts.
Tagovailoa would obviously be a short-term option for Cleveland, if anything. His history with concussions and regression last season would make it hard to justify trading draft capital or shelling out a significant contract for the 2022 No. 5 overall draft pick.
But if the Browns want an experienced veteran to solidify their QB room, they could do much worse than Tagovailoa — and the price would definitely be right.
The potential of Tagovailoa viewing Cleveland as one of his best chances to win a starting job would only add to the intrigue if he’s indeed released prior to March 13.