One Power 4 coordinator does not see what the Cleveland Browns saw when they selected Dillon Gabriel in the third round of the 2025 NFL Draft.
The coach said to ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg that he valued new Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Will Howard, who was taken over 100 picks and three rounds later than Gabriel.
“I don’t see the evaluation of Gabriel over [Will] Howard,“ the coach told Rittenberg. “I’m not saying either one of them is more talented than Sanders, but Will Howard’s a better pro prospect than Gabriel with the size, arm strength, the passing tree that he had to throw at Ohio State.”
The Browns would also take Shedeur Sanders in the fifth round, trading up to land him. Sanders fell far from where most projected him to land, and Browns general manager Andrew Berry said it was more about value than anything else when they went up for Sanders.
“Shedeur, we talk often about quarterback being the most important position in the sport,” Berry said. “We felt like it wasn’t necessarily the plan going into the weekend to select two quarterbacks, but we do believe in best player available, we do believe in positional value, and we didn’t necessarily expect him to be available in the fifth round.”
As for Howard, the Steelers did not necessarily expect him to fall to the sixth round either, but he will likely be the team’s QB3 this year.
Howard transferred into Columbus from Kansas State, where he was a multiple-year starter and team captain. During his season, the Buckeyes were an up-and-down offense, but became an elite unit once Howard’s play took a significant leap in the College Football Playoff.
This season, Howard threw for 4010 passing yards, a career-high. With that, he posted a 73 percent completion percentage, another career-high mark. Howard had 35 touchdowns to 10 interceptions.