Cleveland Browns Shredded for Controversial Offseason Decision

The Cleveland Browns are getting blasted for a contentious decision they made during the NFL offseason.

May 10, 2025; Berea, OH, USA; Cleveland Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski watches during rookie minicamp at CrossCountry Mortgage Campus. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-Imagn Images | Ken Blaze-Imagn Images

The Cleveland Browns weren't able to be all that active in free agency this offseason, as their salary cap situation was complicated, to say the least.

As a result, the Browns had to wait until the NFL Draft to get busy, and while Cleveland certainly made some waves in the draft, it didn't necessarily knock everyone's socks off with the decisions it made.

Not only did the Browns pass on the opportunity to take Travis Hunter with the No. 2 overall pick, but they also selected two quarterbacks, selecting Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders in Rounds 3 and 5, respectively.

While the general consensus is that Cleveland scooped up a steal with Sanders, the Gabriel pick was far less popular, and Bleacher Report's Gary Davenport has actually ranked it among his six worst decisions of the offseason.

"The Sanders pick made sense—he was considered a first-round talent by many draftniks and cost the Browns essentially nothing," Davenport wrote. "But the Sanders pick made taking Gabriel on Day 2 look that much worse. ... Gabriel’s ceiling is all but certainly a competent backup. And a Browns team with needs galore on both sides of the ball can’t afford to waste top 100 picks like this."

Gabriel did finish third in Heisman Trophy voting during his final collegiate season at Oregon, but as Davenport notes, his physical abilities don't exactly bode well for success on the professional level.

The Browns also acquired a couple of veteran quarterbacks during the offseason, landing both Kenny Pickett and Joe Flacco. Gabriel will be competing with three other signal-callers—including Sanders—for the starting job next year, but the prevailing thought is that his future isn't very bright. At least not in Cleveland.

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