NFL Execs Reportedly 'Scratching Their Heads' When Browns Took Gabriel Before Sanders

The Cleveland Browns' draft strategy reportedly left many around the NFL confused, especially after they took a chance on Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel in the third round before also selecting Colorado signal-caller Shedeur Sanders in the fifth.

"Several scouts and executives I spoke to really started scratching their heads with the Gabriel pick, but the Browns also taking Sanders made even less sense," ESPN's Kalyn Kahler reported Monday.

"Neither quarterback has prototypical size for the position, and I'm not seeing the plan on how these two will split reps with Joe Flacco and Kenny Pickett in camp."

It is certainly quite the quarterback room at this point in Cleveland with Deshaun Watson sidelined by another Achilles injury, Flacco checking in at 40 years old, Pickett looking to overcome the inconsistency that has defined his career to this point, and two mid-round picks in Gabriel and Sanders hoping to establish themselves at the NFL level.

Cleveland selecting Sanders wouldn't have been surprising to many coming into the draft, but it became surprising when it was the team to stop his slide in the fifth round.

After all, it has just selected a quarterback in Gabriel in the third round, which seemingly eliminated it from the list of potential suitors for the Colorado product. As it turns out, that was not the case.

Sanders falling so far was the biggest story of the draft, but it may not have made as many headlines if the Browns took him in the third round and then Gabriel in the fifth for depth reasons.

B/R's NFL Scouting Department ranked Sanders as the second-best quarterback in the draft behind only Cam Ward and Gabriel as the 10th-best one in its final big board of prospects, which was a fairly accurate approximation of where they were seen by prognosticators even if some may have ranked Jaxson Dart ahead of Sanders.

As for the confusion from the Gabriel pick, there were certainly some red flags considering he will turn 25 years old during his rookie season and is just 5'11" with questions about his arm strength.

Any team picking him while Sanders was still available was only going to make the Colorado product's slide a bigger story, which makes it somewhat ironic that Cleveland was the team that also ended the slide in the fifth round.

Now the rookies are in a situation where seemingly anything can happen. Perhaps one of them will impress so much during the preseason they will earn a starting job. And perhaps one of them won't even be on the active roster by the start of the season given the presence of so many other quarterbacks.

The league will surely be watching, though, especially after the Browns left so many of them "scratching their heads" during the draft.