The Cleveland Browns may have given head coach Kevin Stefanski and GM Andrew Berry some extra life despite a three-win 2025 season, as Berry was able to use some of the NFL Draft assets to bring on perhaps the best overall class of young players any team managed to acquire.
Defensive tackle Mason Graham and linebacker Carson Schwesinger look like long-term starters, running backs Quinshon Judkins and Dylan Sampson are both players who should get tons of touches, and tight end Harold Fannin Jr. is already the best pass-catcher on this roster.
The quarterbacks have been a bit more mixed, however. While neither third-round pick Dillon Gabriel nor fifth-rounder Shedeur Sanders has set the world on fire, there appears to be a clear winner in the competition between these two first-year gunslingers. Sanders has given the offense a bit of a spark, even though he has become a bit turnover-prone.
Sanders may look like more of a long-term backup than Gabriel does, which means Berry's tremendous 2025 class is now marred due to his decision to essentially light a third-round pick on fire.
Browns may be close to already admitting defeat on Dillon Gabriel NFL Draft pick
Gabriel's raw box score numbers (59 percent completions, seven touchdown passes, two interceptions, 80.8 passer rating) don't seem too alarming for a rookie, but the problems arise when one considers his 5.1 yards per attempt, and the fact that Sanders recorded more explosive passing plays in two starts than Gabriel had all year.
The pre-draft doubters were proved absolutely correct. Gabriel's processing ability can't make up for a comically weak arm that is exacerbated by playing in the adverse weather conditions that Cleveland provides. No matter what happens with the quarterback spot in the next few months, Gabriel may have blown his shot to start.
Even in a very thin quarterback class, it seems hard to believe that one of Indiana's Fernando Mendoza, Oregon's Dante Moore, or Alabama's Ty Simpson will not be under center at some point in 2026. After just one year, Gabriel's status within the organization is alarmingly weak.
Sanders hasn't exactly set the world on fire in his up-and-down start to the 2025 season, and the fact that Gabriel doesn't even appear to have a prayer of getting back in the starting lineup if not for some sort of injury is the most damning indictment of Gabriel's future as a quarterback in this league.