All week, former Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel has been proving the doubters and the haters wrong as he has excelled throughout Reese's Senior Bowl practices and drills. Now, NFL Draft analysts regard Gabriel as an elite quarterback in the class.
Just two days before the Senior Bowl kicked off, ESPN's Mel Kiper shared his list of the most underrated players in the Draft class and Gabriel was on it.
In a segment of "First Draft!" on Thursday, Kiper and Field Yates broke down their unhidden gems in the class from overlooked players to underrated stars.
Despite Gabriel leading the Ducks to a 13-1 overall record and a Big Ten Championship victory – not to mention his historic, record-breaking season – many Draft analysts and NFL scouts, have him farther down on their projected Draft order, some saying he will go as late as the fifth round.
Yates and Kiper expounded on Gabriel's lengthy collegiate career and his success across the country as he played for UCF, Oklahoma, and Oregon.
"He's going to be very accurate," Yates said. "He had nearly 4,000 passing yards, he had 34 total touchdowns, he was third in Heisman voting this past year."
Dillon Gabriel 2024 stats
- 326 completions (72.9 percent)
- 3,857 passing yards
- 30 passing touchdowns
- 6 interceptions
- 149 rushing yards
- 7 rushing touchdowns
However, they did break down his one "flaw" of being undersized for a quarterback. At just 6-foot-0, Gabriel is on the smaller size for players at the position and isn't quite an elite athlete. Yet, Yates continued to praise the former Oregon quarterback as he talked about how quickly Gabriel could play and how fast he could get the ball out of his hands.
Kiper added on to Yates' take, expanding on the fact that Gabriel is the most experienced quarterback in the Draft class. He gave a huge tip of the cap to the former Duck as being ready for the next level because of his lengthy time in the NCAA.