Cleveland Browns' Dillon Gabriel's Height A Factor In Quarterback Competition? NFL Insider Report

NFL insider Kimberley A. Martin appeared on ESPN’s Get Up on Wednesday morning. Martin reported that sources have told her Gabriel’s height is impacting where he stands in the quarterback competition. 

“In the QB room, talking to Flacco, wanting to learn, and also, let’s not forget, Dillon Gabriel. Spent a lot of time talking about Shedeur, but Dillon Gabriel’s a guy who was drafted in the third. One source told me, he is everything you want in a quarterback, he’s just small,” Martin continued. “If he were just a little taller, a lot of people would be looking at Dillon Gabriel a little differently, at least that’s how they feel in their building.”

Gabriel spent his college football career with three different teams continuously developing. The rookie quarterback helped lead the Oregon Ducks to an undefeated regular season and was an underrated quarterback heading into the 2025 NFL Draft. With the Ducks, Gabriel finished the 2024 season with 3,857 passing yards and 30 touchdowns. He passed for just six interceptions and finished the season with a 72.9 completion percentage.

One of the reasons that Gabriel fell to the third round was due to his height. Gabriel is 5-11 and the former Ducks quarterback has been getting slack for being short. Despite being the first quarterback the Browns’ drafted this year, his height could be causing him to fall behind in the quarterback competition. 

Gabriel has yet to let his height hold him back from being a competitor. While there may be four quarterbacks competing for the starting position, Gabriel has the chance to work with Flacco, a Super Bowl winning quarterback, and Pickett, who was a first-round pick that did not work out and is on a journey of his own to start again.

Meanwhile, Sanders appears to be gaining support in the building.

“Listen, in that building, there are people who believe that Shedeur can 100 percent be the starter of this football team,” Martin said. “You said it’s incumbent upon the Browns to put him in the situation, it’s also incumbent upon Shedeur to do the work, which, talking to people in that building, they’ve said he is soaking up everything like a sponge.”

Stefanski is in a interesting situation, as his quarterback room has become the No. 1 storyline of the NFL offseason.

"Those guys are doing great," Stefanski said at the Cleveland Browns’ 2025 Foundation Golf outing. "They are both wired to get in early, stay late, put in whatever work is required. They're sponges in the meeting room which I think is really fun for me and my vantage point."

"I get to sit there and watch the two young guys look over and there's Joe [Flacco], 40 years old, won a Super Bowl. There's Kenny Pickett, just going into year four, but first-round draft pick that's been on a couple teams, won a Super Bowl last year. There's Deshaun [Watson], had a ton of success in his career. They can kind of feed off of all those guys. So that's the thing I'm really - it's fun to watch them get better sometimes just by listening," Stefanski continued.

While Gabriel may not be the front runner, it is still early and there is an entire preseason for the former Ducks quarterback to compete for the starting position.

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