Mary Kay Cabot covers the Cleveland Browns for the Cleveland Plain Dealer and cleveland.com. In a report Monday she revealed that Dillon Gabriel "was the plan all along" for the Browns management and owner Jimmy Haslam.
She told the "Orange and Brown Podcast:"
“I wasn’t surprised about Dillon Gabriel because I knew they really liked him a lot and I knew that they were targeting him in this draft and that they were probably going to end up with him at some point in this draft. So they did have a plan going in. And their plan was Dillon Gabriel,”
After extensive interviews, workouts and a private dinner on April 2nd, plus observing him first-hand at the Senior Bowl where Bubba Ventrone, the Browns' special teams coach, Jacques Cesaire, the defensive line coach, and Callie Brownson, the assistant wide receivers coach, were all part of the staff.
Ventrone was head coach of the American squad. Gabriel was quarterback for National.
Cabot said:
“This flew completely under the radar. They flew out to Eugene, Oregon, the day before they went to Colorado, to Boulder to take Travis Hunter and Shedeur Sanders to dinner. That happened on April 3rd. The day before that, they flew to Eugene... they snuck in this private visit and dinner with Dillon Gabriel out in Oregon. It leaked out nowhere.”
Gabriel impressed the Cleveland staff and management with his poise, his decision-making and his pocket presence. They like his maturity and focus, his qualities as a leader and teammate.
Picking Sanders later in the draft was a matter of value, specifically the value of competition. When the Colorado QB and Johnny Unitas Award-winner fell to the fifth round, he became a bargain, particularly when the team factored the publicity and fan interest his selection would generate.
But the Ducks Gabriel was the quarterback they really wanted. On the Browns website, general manager Andrew Berry said:
"We just thought he had a really well-rounded game. And the biggest negative that you can say about him is that he doesn't have ideal height. But that's not something that we felt like showed up in his game or his film at UCF, Oklahoma, and certainly not at Oregon this year."
Gabriel is the all-time NCAA leader in touchdown passes with 156 and career starts with 64. He's personable and extremely calm under pressure. The Browns will have a training camp competition with Deshaun Watson. Joe Flacco., Gabriel and Sanders. They're declining to pick up the option on Kenny Pickett.