"Dillon Gabriel shouldn’t be ahead of ball boys": NFL insider questions rookie's spot on Browns QB depth chart

Dillon Gabriel has a tough task ahead as he's preparing for his first NFL season amid a busy quarterback room at a franchise not synonymous with QB development. Gabriel was picked by the Cleveland Browns in the third round of the 2025 NFL draft, and a couple of rounds later, the team picked another signal caller in Shedeur Sanders.

The comparison between the rookies has been the talk of the football town all offseason, and NFL analyst Daryl Ruiter recently made a bold claim about Gabriel's spot on the depth chart.

Many believe that Gabriel is the clear favorite over Sanders to get some game time in the upcoming season. NFL analyst Albert Breer also believes that the 24-year-old is way ahead of Coach Prime's son, as he wrote on X:

"I don't know how many times I have to say this, but it's reality—Dillon Gabriel is ahead of Shedeur Sanders right now, and has been since both arrived in Cleveland. Sanders has worked to catch up, but he's got a lot of ground to make up."

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However, Ruiter doesn't share the same sentiment. While replying to Breer's tweet, he stated that Gabriel shouldn't be ahead of the other:

"I don’t know how to say this, but Dillon Gabriel shouldn’t be ahead of the ball boys. Every time I watch him I think to myself, they can’t be serious with this kid."

Shedeur Sanders makes the best throws of the Browns camp while Dillion Gabriel struggles to find his footing

While both young rookies are hungry to prove themselves, it seems like Shedeur Sanders is letting his actions do the talking. In a recent report by The Athletic's Zac Jackson, Sanders is impressing the coaches with some great plays, while Gabriel has been "wildly inaccurate":

"With the two rookie quarterbacks, there’s a clear order: (Dillon) Gabriel, the third-round pick, goes ahead of Sanders and gets more total reps, too," Jackson wrote on Sunday. "But to say Gabriel has had an up-and-down training camp would be to at least slightly ignore that he has been wildly down (and wildly inaccurate) in recent days. "And though camp stats and camp completions do not tell anything close to the whole story, Gabriel has done nothing to make anyone observing believe he’s ready to be trusted as a No. 2 quarterback."

He added that while Sanders has shown impressive accuracy, the Browns aren't going to rush the QB into anything:

"The Cleveland Browns have no plans to rush Sanders into anything and want him to continue developing in their offense. If Sanders can handle pressure and off-schedule plays over the next two weeks in preseason and joint practice settings, he could position himself to play late in the (2025) season."

It'll be interesting to see who will end up becoming Cleveland's starter, and not just in week one, but for years to come.

Edited by John Maxwell