Browns Trade Proposal Flips Dillon Gabriel, Pick for $34 Million QB

The Cleveland Browns are looking for as many bites at the apple as possible in their search for a franchise quarterback, as evidenced by the team’s decision to draft two rookies in April.

That said, Dillon Gabriel arrived via the third round, while Shedeur Sanders landed in Cleveland by way of a fifth-round pick. Team owner Jimmy Haslam spoke to the team’s process in selecting Sanders earlier this week.

“If you’d have told me Friday night driving home, y’all are going to pick Shedeur, I would have said, ‘That’s not happening.’ But we had a conversation early that morning, and we had a conversation later that day. I think we had the right people involved in the conversation,” Haslam said. “At the end of the day, that’s [GM] Andrew Berry’s call. Andrew made the call to pick Shedeur.”

Meanwhile, Tony Grossi of ESPN Cleveland noted on July 21 that the Browns “think, from the neck up, [Gabriel] is a No. 1 pick.” The problem is that what a QB can accomplish with everything from the neck down has huge implications for his NFL ceiling.

All of this is to say the Browns don’t have an obvious home run in the QB room yet, and they know that. Cleveland owns two first-round picks in 2026, including that of the Jacksonville Jaguars, which should position the team to select one of the top couple of quarterback prospects next spring if it so chooses.

In the meantime, the Browns might consider another swing on a young, high-talent player who needs a change of scenery. One who might become available at some point ahead of the mid-season trade deadline or next offseason is Anthony Richardson of the Indianapolis Colts.