Dawgs By Nature
Shedeur Sanders impresses as the Browns QB competition gets viewed for first time in OTAs
The fate of the 2025 Cleveland Browns season rides mostly on the team’s defense and their attempt to rejuvenate the rushing attack. Despite that, the Browns quarterback competition will be the biggest storyline, especially given the lack of play style continuity among the four quarterbacks competing for the job.
Cleveland can overachieve in 2025 despite low expectations and the Browns roster being graded among the worst heading into the summer. Competent quarterback play will have to be a part of that. At some level, Cleveland’s quarterback room is full of unknowns:
According to Zac Jackson, Sanders has been impressive, but his statement about Gabriel not looking like an NFL quarterback got the headline:
As Jackson notes, we have not heard of another team that was interested in drafting Gabriel inside the first 100 picks, with some uncertainty of whether he still would have been available in the last two rounds if the Browns hadn’t selected him. Physical outliers, which Gabriel fits, rarely succeed in a sport like football. That doesn’t mean Gabriel won’t, but it is a steep climb when you don’t meet certain physical benchmarks.
There is a long time before Cleveland’s decision makers have to decide on a starter for 2025 but Sanders and Gabriel (and Pickett to a lesser degree) have one year to prove something to the Browns before the team’s two picks in the first round of the 2026 NFL draft could be used to find the next “franchise QB.”
Do you think Gabriel can overcome his physical limitations to become “an NFL quarterback” or is that unrealistic?
Share your thoughts in the comment section below
