Dillon Gabriel | Oregon 5’11” 205 lbs. 12/28/2000 (24)
Dillon Gabriel was drafted by the Cleveland Browns, becoming the fifth quarterback and 94th overall player in the 2025 NFL Draft.
COLLEGE PRODUCTION
| Att | Comp | Yds | Pass TD | INT | Rush Yd | Rush TD | |
| 2019 | 398 | 235 | 3,653 | 29 | 7 | 184 | 4 |
| 2020 | 413 | 248 | 3,569 | 32 | 4 | 289 | 2 |
| 2021 | 102 | 70 | 814 | 9 | 3 | 161 | 2 |
| 2022 | 373 | 234 | 3,184 | 25 | 6 | 415 | 6 |
| 2023 | 383 | 264 | 3,655 | 30 | 6 | 456 | 12 |
| 2024 | 451 | 326 | 3,854 | 30 | 6 | 300 | 7 |
| Totals | 2,120 | 1,377 | 18,729 | 155 | 32 | 1,805 | 33 |
Dillon Gabriel was in college for what seemed like an eternity, beginning his journey back in 2019 at UCF. Gabriel was a starter all six years of his college career and posted some of the best career totals in NCAA history for quarterbacks. Gabriel is currently tied for first all-time in passing touchdowns (155) alongside Case Keenum. He’s second all-time in pass yards (18,729) and seventh all-time in completions (1,377). Gabriel suffered a broken clavicle early in his 2021 season, which resulted in a redshirt. He was granted an extra year of eligibility due to the COVID-19 season in 2020, leading to a six-year college career.
Gabriel’s first three seasons were played at UCF before he transferred to Oklahoma for his fourth and fifth seasons, and ultimately finished his career in Eugene with the Ducks. He finished with a career completion percentage of 65.0%, an adjusted completion percentage of 75.3%, and 8.8 yards per attempt (YPA). All these marks are well above average for a college quarterback, but wouldn’t be considered elite.
FILM
Gabriel isn’t a Konami Code quarterback but has the mobility to elude pressure and provide some fantasy production on the ground. With 64 career college games under his belt, Gabriel has developed excellent pocket awareness and is an above-average processor. Gabriel has shown he’s an accurate deep ball passer, finishing third in the FBS this year in adjusted completion percentage on pass attempts over 20 yards (min. 20 attempts). Despite the analytics on deep passes this year, Gabriel doesn’t have the strongest arm in the world and struggles on pass attempts outside the numbers. He has a quick release and solid mechanics but his smaller stature may prevent him from getting his shot at the NFL level. He has smaller hands, and standing at just 5’11”, he may have difficulty seeing over the line at times. We’ve seen smaller quarterbacks find success as starting NFL quarterbacks, but the majority of starting quarterbacks fall into that 6’1” to 6’5” range.
ATHLETIC TESTING
Dillon Gabriel did not participate in the speed and agility drills at the NFL Combine. He’s a below-average athlete for an NFL quarterback and mostly found his success in college as a system quarterback. As mentioned, Gabriel would provide some fantasy upside on the ground if he ever found himself in a starting role, as he averaged 5.9 FPPG as a rusher over his college career.
DRAFT ANALYSIS
Rapid Reaction to Draft Capital: Above Average
Rapid Reaction to Landing Spot: Average
Dillon Gabriel was selected 94th overall in the NFL Draft by the Cleveland Browns.
The Day 2 draft capital was a bit surprising for Gabriel, as many draft experts had him as a Day 3 projection. What was even more surprising was that Gabriel went ahead of Shedeur Sanders, who the Browns selected in Round 5. I would rate this as an above-average landing spot as well, given there is no clear-cut starter in Cleveland at this time, but this franchise has been a dumpster fire for some time now, so even if Dillon gets a shot under center, I won’t have high hopes.
FANTASY INSIGHTS
Gabriel now joins a depth chart that includes Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett, Deshaun Watson, and Shedeur Sanders. This is, without a doubt, the most comical quarterback room in the NFL heading into 2025. Flacco is the presumed starting quarterback for this coming season, but if I had to pick one of the bunch who has the best odds of turning into the long-term starter in Cleveland, it’s Shedeur by a long shot. Sanders simply has more NFL traits to his game than Gabriel, and I don’t see Gabriel as being anything more than an NFL backup for the majority of his career.
In Superflex formats, I guess I’d be fine using a fourth-round rookie pick on Gabriel, but honestly, I’d prefer to use that dart throw on a running back in this deep class. Gabriel carries very little Dynasty value at this time and is a taxi squad stash at best, at least for now.
Thank you for taking the time to read this article, and I hope you got some valuable information you can use for your fantasy team! If you’d like additional insight into Dynasty Football news and analysis, please follow me on Twitter at @jim_DFF. Until next time, keep grinding out there, DFF family! #DFFArmy #AlwaysBeBuilding
