Reaching for QB Dillon Gabriel to close Day 2 of NFL Draft was baffling move by Browns

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You can call the Cleveland Browns a lot of things. You can’t call them predictable.

A night after they traded out of the No. 2 spot in the NFL Draft and acquired Jacksonville’s 2026 first-round pick to do it, a Browns team that has a lengthy list of offensive needs started Friday’s second round by selecting linebacker Carson Schwesinger at No. 33.

From there, the Browns took running back Quinshon Judkins at No. 36, tight end Harold Fannin Jr. at No. 67 and quarterback Dillon Gabriel at No. 94. Going offense had to be in the plans in the wake of a 3-14 season that saw the Browns finish last in the league in scoring. But the 5-foot-11 Gabriel going in the top 100 picks qualifies as a stunner. He was graded as a third-day selection, and his ceiling seems to be as an NFL backup.

Even with the Browns’ willingness to wait on a quarterback — even until next year’s draft following the Jaguars trade — it’s fair to wonder what they expect out of a QB room that now includes 40-year-old Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett and Gabriel.

Though general manager Andrew Berry said the pick was about the Browns believing in Schwesinger more than anything else, that selection feels like Cleveland acknowledging that linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah isn’t likely to play in 2025. Owusu-Koramoah suffered a significant neck injury in October, and there has been no clear answer from the team on his prognosis.

A team with multiple offensive needs starting the second round with a linebacker feels like a pretty clear answer, though the season doesn’t begin until September. Schwesinger is instinctual and rangy, and the Browns have a type of linebacker they like.

As for what type of offense they plan to run in 2025, one that doesn’t scare most opponents qualifies as a fair answer right now. But in the preferred offense of coach Kevin Stefanski, who’s taking back the play-calling duties, the Browns want to establish a power run game and involve the tight ends in multiple ways. Judkins is strong enough to run through contact and explosive enough to thrive in a wide-zone scheme, so he fits what Stefanski has done in the past.

Stefanski likes tight ends, too. Fannin is still learning the position and is only 20 years old, but the Browns believe he can continue to develop. Judkins figures to play a lot as a rookie, and Fannin has a high ceiling. Cleveland still needs to add to the offensive line and wide receiver groups, so reaching for Gabriel to end the draft’s second night is just baffling.

The Browns were going to target a running back, and Judkins had been on NFL radars after scoring 45 rushing touchdowns in three college seasons. Fannin set FBS records for a tight end with 117 receptions for 1,555 yards last season, and he pretty much was Bowling Green’s offense. But the native of Canton, Ohio, didn’t just pad his stats against overmatched MAC defenders. Two of Fannin’s biggest games came against Penn State and Texas A&M in 2024.

The left-handed Gabriel put up big numbers over his six seasons at UCF, Oklahoma and Oregon, and the Browns felt good about their multiple meetings with Gabriel over the last several months. Externally, though, it’s just impossible to feel even a little bit good about Cleveland’s QB room. And given that the failure of the Deshaun Watson experiment got the Browns where they are, it’s fair to think things won’t get much better until the quarterback play greatly improves.

As has been the case in previous seasons, Berry’s draft class features an emphasis on athleticism and players either 20 or 21. Age doesn’t and shouldn’t matter as much at quarterback, but it’s now hard to see Gabriel, 24, either claiming the starting job this season or truly figuring into future starting quarterback plans.

Nothing is a given with any prospect, and the Browns clearly are taking a future-focused view of things. But this roster has screaming needs now and going forward.

The Browns view Schwesinger as a hidden gem, a former walk-on who made himself a legitimate NFL prospect in one college season as a starter. But in starting the second night with the UCLA linebacker, the Browns decided not to take the draft’s fifth and sixth receivers (Jayden Higgins and Luther Burden III), third and fourth tight ends (Mason Taylor and Terrance Ferguson) and ninth offensive lineman (Jonah Savaiinaea), all of whom went in the first 15 picks in the second round.

Maybe they’ll hit on Fannin, and they’re probably right in thinking Judkins wouldn’t have lasted even a few more picks if Cleveland hadn’t selected him. But for all the focus on quarterbacks and more than six months of the Browns fully knowing they’d have to spend this offseason fixing the game’s most important position, they’ve now gone about that by giving up a fifth-round pick to get Pickett, doing a one-year deal in trying to recreate their 2023 magic with Flacco and using pick No. 94 of a crucial draft on Gabriel.

What really is the plan ahead of a summer competition for the starting job? And how can anyone feel confident about what’s ahead?

The Browns taking a patient, big-picture approach to their quarterback mess was understandable. But with the draft nearly over, the offseason program underway and most of the big offseason decisions made, it’s more than fair to wonder how the Browns think they can win with their current offense — and just how many chances the folks in charge believe they’re going to get in trying to right the ship.

(Photo: John Fisher / Getty Images)

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