The Cleveland Browns had a quiet free-agency period on the heels of a disastrous 3-14 campaign in 2024, which placed a bit more pressure on this high-profile 2025 rookie class to help turn the team around.
Expectations are rather high for this class as this desperate fanbase is eager for a bounce-back season, though two rookies were recently given an unflattering prediction for the upcoming campaign.
Bleacher Report’s Kristopher Knox recently wrote an article about buying or selling rookies around the league, and he does not have a positive outlook when it comes to Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders.
“And while the Browns will probably want to get a look at Gabriel and/or Sanders as rookies—they’ll have two first-round picks in 2026 and could make a strong play for a top QB prospect—they can’t possibly view either as a sure-fire franchise signal-caller,” Knox wrote. “Cleveland most likely targeted Gabriel for his long-term backup potential, while Sanders became worth a low-risk bet on Day 3. If either was viewed as a ‘sure thing,’ he would have been drafted earlier.”
It may be a little harsh, but this is the reality check that some Browns fans and a lot of media members need to hear.
Sanders has been anointed as the inevitable franchise savior by far too many members of the media who are still struggling with the fact that they projected him to be a top-five pick and he slid all the way to the fifth round.
Expectations need to be adjusted, and everyone needs to start treating him like the fifth-round pick that he is.
While fans are surely all rooting for him, the reality is that most fifth-round quarterbacks don’t amount to much.
It would be wise to give Gabriel and Sanders an extended look later in the year ahead of the ’26 draft, which is projected to be loaded with top-tier quarterback talent.
Gaining any sort of clarity on the current quarterback room has to be the main goal for the Browns in 2025, and Kevin Stefanski is the right man to help lead the team toward that clarity ahead of 2026’s draft.
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Shedeur Sanders Showing Strong Chemistry With Undrafted Rookie