Browns' Dillon Gabriel draft pick makes no sense but fits franchise's QB history

Billy Heyen

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Browns' Dillon Gabriel draft pick makes no sense but fits franchise's QB history image

This is what the Cleveland Browns do.

They mess up the quarterback position.

Their franchise's entire history since re-forming in Cleveland is about QB mishaps.

It started with Tim Couch at No. 1 overall in 1999.

Since Couch, there have been 40 starting quarterbacks for the Browns. That's insane.

And on Friday night, Shedeur Sanders fell into the Browns' laps. The Colorado QB isn't a sure thing, but he was a consensus first-round pick.

At one point, there was speculation that Sanders could go No. 2 overall to the Browns.

Now, he wasn't even worthy of No. 94. The Browns took forever-college-QB Dillon Gabriel out of Oregon instead.

Sanders hasn't had anything publicly come out that explains his giant draft slide, but there's obviously something lingering underneath the surface.

Gabriel was a record-setting college QB and has strong accuracy, but he stayed in college for six seasons in part because he wasn't equipped to come out to the NFL yet.

He's 5-foot-11, and as a lefty, is a tricky backup to count on because he does everything in reverse to most starters.

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The fact that Gabriel can be thought about as a backup is crazy when Sanders, almost certainly a starting-level NFL QB, was still available.

It's really nothing against Gabriel. He's just in the latest crosshairs of the Browns getting the QB position wrong.

Kenny Pickett looks primed to be the Browns' Week 1 starter, and he'd be the 41st since 1999.

Maybe Gabriel will start at some point during his rookie season and be the 42nd Browns QB in that span.

Gabriel doesn't even solve the position long-term, necessarily. If someone like Arch Manning is still there next year, you'd have to imagine the Browns take him.

It's a never-ending spiral of nightmares. 

The Browns failed with Johnny Manziel and Deshaun Watson. They gave up too quickly on Baker Mayfield. They can't get it right.

And on Friday night, it's like they didn't even try. Taking Gabriel was a conservative fourth-down decision resulting in a punt.

Cleveland's fans deserved a throw down the field to select Sanders. But it's no surprise the Browns didn't give them that. This is what they do.

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Billy Heyen

Billy Heyen is a freelance writer with The Sporting News. He is a 2019 graduate of Syracuse University who has written about many sports and fantasy sports for The Sporting News. Sports reporting work has also appeared in a number of newspapers, including the Sandusky Register and Rochester Democrat & Chronicle