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Should you draft Dillon Gabriel or Shedeur Sanders in 2025 dynasty fantasy football rookie drafts? John breaks down each quarterback's long term fantasy football outlook.
The Cleveland Browns now have the most interesting bad quarterback room in the NFL. After signing both QBs Joe Flacco and Kenny Pickett to join their usual starter, Deshaun Watson, they drafted both Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders in the 2025 NFL Draft.
It was an interesting move, and it seems to signify that they don't have much faith in their squad of winning many games this season. Their roster is in shambles, and they're sinking a massive amount of guaranteed money (yes, still) into Watson's contract for literally nothing in return.
Still, dynasty fantasy football is about the long haul, and if either Gabriel or Sanders becomes the starter for even one season, the implications will be important. Especially in deep superflex or 2QB leagues, where every quarterback that has a shot at starting needs to be on a roster, predicting who will play the most is very important. So let's dive in!
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Should You Draft Dillon Gabriel In Rookie Drafts?
It's interesting to point out first that Gabriel was actually drafted higher than Sanders. While there was a massive amount of hype for Sanders in the media, with most outlets swearing up and down that he was a great prospect that would be picked in the top 5, he fell all the way to the fourth round.
Gabriel was chosen 50 spots earlier, but in a spot where it's usually very rare to find starters. It's hard to see Flacco or Pickett getting the job all season, though. In fact, this is a very tough situation to predict, because the QB room is so stacked with middling talent -- Flacco isn't that mid, he's just very old now.
"I think Shedeur (Sanders) is going to beat out Dillon Gabriel in camp."@MaggieGray predicts what will happen in the QB room in northeast Ohio this season. pic.twitter.com/HpR8jv9fGN
— Maggie and Perloff (@MaggieandPerl) May 16, 2025
The problem with searching for answers to the Gabriel/Sanders debate is that it's very difficult to sift through all the garbage propaganda teams and their fans put out during the offseason. It really goes both ways. The reality is that Gabriel was a very odd draft pick by the team, and he doesn't have the talent to run an NFL offense.
He doesn't have the accuracy that Sanders possesses, isn't an elite athlete, and likely wouldn't have been selected until much later in this year's draft had the Browns not made the head-scratching decision to pick him and had he not transferred to Oregon, where he thrived in the very quarterback-friendly system they run there.
He also doesn't possess the arm talent he needs to make a lot of legitimate NFL throws, which is one of the biggest flaws in his game. QBs that have weak arms allow defenses to be much more flexible in their coverages and effectively defend a larger portion of the field.
Browns reporter says there is a wide gap between Sheduer Sanders and Dillon Gabriel "It's not close" 😲 😳 😲...pic.twitter.com/RjtnfUXKu5
— Hurricane Jay (@Hurricane_Jay26) May 12, 2025
Any time people want a quarterback to be good, especially when he's been drafted by their favorite team, many of them will flock to social media to swear that no, those weaknesses are actually strengths, and because he had good college production, he MUST be good in the NFL. But there are levels to this game.
Sanders fell pretty far in drafts because of his poor attitude, but once players step on the field, that tends to matter a lot less. Certified horrible people like Watson and Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill get a ton of playing time because they can help their teams win.
Gabriel is set to be a career backup, and I'm not even confident he's better than Flacco right now. In fact, I'd argue he's not. Perhaps he could give Pickett a run for his money, but that doesn't make him worth drafting.
Should You Draft Shedeur Sanders In Rookie Drafts?
It depends. I've written plenty of pieces, being extremely critical of Sanders for the flaws in his game. But that was when he was being selected much, much earlier in rookie drafts. Generally, the attitude of my pieces is geared around what their ADP is, because value is all that matters in fantasy football.
Now that expectations have been significantly lowered, it's worth re-examining the situation here. Sanders seems most likely to become the team's starter at some point in the 2025 season. Perhaps they'll start out with Flacco, but he seems to just be a bridge QB right now.
𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐈'𝐌 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆:
- The only time a Shedeur Sanders ball hit in the ground all rookie minicamp is when the receiver dropped it
- the most accurate QB the Browns have seen in 10+ years
— NFL Notifications (@NFLNotify) May 15, 2025
His accuracy isn't really ever something that's been questioned. His play pretty much collapses under pressure, he has very little sense of timing, he takes a lot of terrible sacks, and he doesn't have a good eye for pass-rushers in his face. He mostly just stands back and doesn't react well to the defense closing in on him.
But in training camp, when taking reps not under pressure, you can get the purest and most distilled sense of how accurate a QB is. And that's one of Sanders' best qualities. Making accurate throws consistently is simply the most important thing a quarterback can do, and it's foundational to the game of football.
Shedeur Sanders = QB1
— Big Mike (@big_mike9169) May 11, 2025
And it's something we've seen all over his tape. A quarterback playing poorly under pressure is at least something an offensive coordinator has a chance of designing plays to work around. Poor accuracy is irredeemable and is much harder (impossible) to coach out of a QB's game.
With all this in mind, and considering that Pickett is just terrible, Flacco is getting too old, and Watson probably won't play in 2025, it's easy to conclude that Sanders has a far better chance of starting than Gabriel, and that it will probably happen by at least midseason. In what's likely to be a lost year for the Browns, they'll want to evaluate Sanders as thoroughly as possible.
Shedeur Sanders' profile is live at @RecepPerception.
He's insanely accurate. And what gets lost in the shuffle of the high volume of short-game discourse that we have is that he also threw 15% of his throws over 20 yards, more than Ward.
full profile here:… pic.twitter.com/xBl4BlQLYq
— Cory (@fakecorykinnan) March 20, 2025
I'm not sold on Sanders as a good prospect. He benefited greatly from having WR/CB Travis Hunter to throw the ball to -- that much is undeniable. And his issues will likely be on full display. But that doesn't really matter for deep dynasty and 2QB leagues. He'll be worth drafting at some point.
If you need to bolster your quarterback depth or want to take a shot in the later rounds on a QB that you think has a chance of starting at some point in 2025, Sanders is not a terrible pick in the later rounds. He's currently ranked at No. 25 in FantasyPros dynasty superflex rookie rankings.
Shedeur Sanders has a bad tendency to drift backwards in the pocket when he doesn't see things cleanly downfield or when he feels pressure. This puts a lot of strain on his offensive tackles and limits his ability to attack downfield. pic.twitter.com/60ZaMT6u6X
— Nate Tice (@Nate_Tice) March 19, 2025
Especially in 6-point passing touchdown leagues, the value of a quarterback is simply irreplaceable, and always having backup options in case of injuries to your starters or bye weeks is massively important. In these leagues' rookie drafts, it's really not that terrible to spend a late second or early third-round pick on Sanders.
His issues with pocket maneuvering and timing, as bad as they are, are actually coachable to some degree. And perhaps Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski can find a way to make it work. There's a case to be made for real upside here, at a very cheap price. Sanders is even cheaper than New Orleans Saints QB Tyler Shough right now.
Omfg the Saints just got stuck with Tyler Shough as QB1🤣🤣
Shoutout Derek Carr tho
Enjoy retirement🫡 pic.twitter.com/GzGNbf0d97— DJ MurkCity (@myrksitymma) May 10, 2025
Yeah, with that in mind, Sanders really isn't a bad player to pick. Even if he has just a few years with a decent number of games started in the NFL, he'd be worth it for how valuable QBs are in the right types of leagues.
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