NFL Draft
11/11/24
7 min read
Dillon Gabriel 2025 NFL Draft: Scouting Report For Oregon Ducks QB
Height: 5110 (unofficial)
Weight: 205 (unofficial)
Year: Sixth-Year Senior
Pro Comparison: Jaren Hall
Scouting Overview
Oregon Ducks quarterback Dillon Gabriel has several appealing NFL traits that could be assimilated into an offense, ideally as a backup quarterback at the next level.
Gabriel has enough mobility and short-area quickness paired with a requisite arm for the pro level. His playing experience is expansive, and he seems to have taken an additional step during his final season in 2024 — his first with the Ducks. Gabriel’s outside-of-play structure ability and mobility make him an attractive option as a backup, where he won’t be expected to operate the offense with the same level of precision but can afford more time to make plays with his legs.
2025 NFL Combine Results
TBD
Positives
- Showcases good ability to process safety rotation for deep shots developing down the field
- Athleticism allows him to get outside the pocket and stress the defense as both a runner and a passer
- Slippery within the pocket due to short-area quickness and low center of gravity
Negatives
- Too many negative plays, both with decision-making and ball security, in the red area, where the game gets compressed
- Is not a precision player, lacks pinpoint accuracy or precise footwork for ideal timing on his targets
- Will be a 25-year-old rookie by the end of his first season in the NFL in 2025
Background
Dillon Gabriel is from Mililani, HI, and played high school football at Mililani HS. There, he was rated as a 3-star prospect and Gatorade’s 2018 Hawai’i Player of the Year. His father, Garrett, played quarterback for the Rainbow Warriors from 1986-1990 and posted more than 5,600 career passing yards and 47 touchdowns in his career. Dillon was set to enroll at Army-West Point before flipping his commitment to Central Florida.
Gabriel played three seasons for UCF, starting 12 games as a true freshman in 2019 before adding another 13 starts between the COVID-19-shortened 2020 season and the beginning of the 2021 college season. Gabriel’s 2021 season ended after just three starts due to a season-ending injury against Louisville; that injury would eventually end his career at UCF.
Gabriel entered the transfer portal ahead of 2022, and despite briefly committing to UCLA, he enrolled in Oklahoma. There, he earned Big 12 Offensive Newcomer of the Year and Second-Team All-Big 12 AP while starting 12 of 13 games. He missed the Texas game due to an injury suffered in the first half the prior week against TCU.
Gabriel broke out even further in his second season at Oklahoma, starting 12 games while completing nearly 70 percent of his passes and accounting for 42 total touchdowns (30 passing, 12 rushing). He was named a Manning Award and Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award finalist in addition to First-Team All-Big 12.
Gabriel was once again on the move after the 2023 season, transferring to Oregon for his final season of college play. During his final season, he became just the third college quarterback to surpass 17,000 career passing yards, joining Case Keenum and Timmy Chang.
Tale Of The Tape
The Oregon scheme has definitely facilitated a more efficient version of Dillon Gabriel. This isn’t a passer with a lot of big-time traits. He’s got a good arm, mobility, and quickness, but there isn’t a lot of “prototype” to his game as it relates to an NFL quarterback. Gabriel is tough; there’s no denying that.
He’ll stand in the pocket and stare down hits before ripping a throw downfield in an effort to allow plays to develop. However, his vision within the pocket is irregular, particularly on later progression throws uncovering over the middle of the field.
Gabriel’s timing on schemed throws offers good execution. He’ll quickly work play fakes and ball handling to zip the ball quickly to the perimeter vs. free access. On rollouts with slide action, he will quickly defer to a soft edge and allow his skill player to make plays in space and quickly dump down the football.
I am a big fan of how he processes safety rotation against shot plays down the field. He illustrates a good understanding of route leverage and coverage spacing to rip big throws down the field. His arm strength in this area is not foolproof, however. Gabriel can be guilty of hanging throws up in the air and running out of steam on big posts if he’s not ripping the cord quickly enough. A number of Gabriel’s interceptions have come from multi-hitch big posts in which the ball simply runs out of gas.
Gabriel’s footwork isn’t necessarily friendly for precision timing throws, and he isn’t a premiere anticipatory thrower. He sees shot plays well and can throw with timing and rhythm outside the numbers — particularly on out routes and hitches. But his Oklahoma tape had a few too many late throws outside, and those reps were either intercepted or unnecessarily tight throws.
When the field compresses into the red zone, and things happen faster, I think you still see some of Gabriel's limitations. Because he isn’t a rapid-fire processor, there are times working through progressions when he’ll hold the ball too long and take sacks or get to reads late and put the football in harm’s way. It happens too much in tight areas and is an omen that he may need more seasoning before taking on the NFL game, despite all of his experience and production in college.
Gabriel is an older prospect, as you’d expect, having taken six years of eligibility. He will turn 25 in December of his rookie season next year — so the element of maturation at this level is something that will likely hurt his assessment. As he achieves his mental peak, he runs the risk that his physical peak has already come and gone, which is an unnerving challenge for a quarterback with good traits but no true winners to hang his hat on from a physical perspective.
Gabriel has escapability, which he can lean heavily on if he’s pressed into playing time. His decision-making must be disciplined, however. He’s clever within the pocket but can be late to drop his eyes to pursue creases up the middle. If he can feel those opportunities faster or, at the least, be more willing to take them, he can find a healthy balance between his mobility and capability as a runner and his ability to actually extend plays and run to throw.
Ideal Scheme Fit, Role
Gabriel is a challenging scheme projection. He doesn’t have the arm to match his eye for the shot plays down the field and will need to play with better timing on these plays to get the ball up and down before defensive backs fall off.
Physically, he’s a fit for a west-coast, play-action-heavy offense, but his stature creates challenges with seeing the intermediate middle of the field cleanly. I would attempt to groom him in a Shanahan scheme as a developmental backup and optimize his understanding and anticipation. If he needs to play, I would lean heavily on the run game and his ability to get outside the pocket.
Grade: 71.50/100.00, Fifth Round Value
Big Board Rank: TBD
Position Rank: TBD
