The quarterback the Browns prioritized in last month’s draft will finally get his chance to begin to prove any of the doubters wrong. It starts with this weekend’s rookie minicamp, the first step in a months-long process to determine how that position will ultimately stack up on the depth chart.
Dillon Gabriel, however, is ready for the opportunity.
“I’m built for it,” Gabriel said on a conference call on April 25, the night the Browns selected him No. 94 overall in the third round. “You know, I’ve done this all my life. I’ve been playing quarterback from a young age and have stepped into, you know, top tier programs that demand success so I’m built for this. I’m ready for it. It’s the new challenge.
“Although there’s unknown, and this may be a first time for me in terms of being in the NFL, you know, I think just my ability to adapt in college and be around a team and different teams in that way allows you to be able to adapt quickly and know naturally when you walk into a building, you have to be prepared, you have to earn daily influence from your teammates, and then that allows you to continue to challenge. So for me, pressure is a lot of fun. That’s what you look forward to as a competitor and you run towards it.”
There’s going to be a lot of attention focused on the Browns’ rookie minicamp, which starts Friday, May 9, and runs over three days. Almost all of it will be focused on the quarterback position.
How much of that is on Gabriel, who concluded a six-year, three-stop college career at Oregon in 2024, is not likely to be a majority of the focus. That’s because, one day and 50 picks later in the same draft, the Browns traded up to pick No. 144 in the fifth round to select Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders.
Sanders, the son of Pro Football Hall of Famer and Colorado coach Deion Sanders, was the center of attention going into the draft. His wait to finally get picked on the third day of the draft became the storyline of the event.
Since the draft, Sanders has been the central figure in any conversation about the Browns. However, he was also the second quarterback taken behind Gabriel, who clearly was the apple of the eye for both general manager Andrew Berry and coach Kevin Stefanski going into the draft.
“We really felt strongly about Dillon throughout this process,” Berry said on the night Gabriel was picked. “You know, I think he’s a really strong, really, really good prospect. You know, 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 strongly about Dillon. We think he’s an excellent player and felt like he was the most appropriate player to pick for both.”
There are similarities to both Gabriel and Sanders that are hard to ignore. The biggest of those is the accuracy with which both deliver the football, which is something any team would want to have from its quarterback.
Sanders (74%) and Gabriel (72.9%) were first and third among FBS Division I college quarterbacks in 2024 in completion percentage. The previous year, Sanders’ first at Colorado and Gabriel’s second at Oklahoma, they were tied for eighth at 69.3%
Gabriel, over his six seasons, has completed 65.2% of his 2,111 pass attempts. Sanders, who spent two seasons at FCS Division I Jackson State before going to Colorado, has a 70.1 career completion percentage, including 71.8% at the FBS Division I level.
“I think, you know, what do we talk about all pre-draft?” Stefanski said on April 26 after Sanders was selected. “Accuracy, decision making. So, I think that’s the strength of both of those young men.”
There’s a very real world in which neither Gabriel nor Sanders starts for the Browns, not in Week 1 or the entire season. The other two entrants in the Browns’ quarterback competition — Joe Flacco and Kenny Pickett — will also have something to say about who ends up at the top of the depth chart by the season’s beginning.
For now, it’s just the two rookies together on the field, one the high-profile center of attention and the other the one who was taken higher in the draft.
“I think for me I’m at peace knowing that each situation is different and everyone’s got their own journey,” Gabriel said. “And for me, I had trust in my journey. I’ve been living this journey as a player for myself and there’s consistent talk about who I am as a player and it’ll translate in that sense.
“But I’ve continued to prove it, and for me it’s a production-based business, and producing and getting results is my way of life. So I’m excited to continue to prove it, and whatever was going to happen and obviously we’re here now, I was at peace with it.”
Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on X at @ceasterlingABJ
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Dillon Gabriel ‘built for’ QB battles like one with Shedeur Sanders at rookie minicamp
Reporting by Chris Easterling, Akron Beacon Journal / Akron Beacon Journal
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