Latest Cleveland Browns news emphatically confirms Oklahoma Sooners’ status as top NFL quarterback pipeline
The Oklahoma Sooners are the leaders in the clubhouse for sending quarterbacks into the NFL
Entering the 2025 NFL season, the Oklahoma Sooners already had five former starting quarterbacks who were named starters on their respective NFL teams (Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray, Jalen Hurts, Spencer Rattler, and Caleb Williams). Five was already the NFL record, surpassing USC’s record of four when Carson Palmer, Matt Leinart, Mark Sanchez, and Matt Barkley were all in the league together in the early 2010s.
However, thanks to the latest news from the Cleveland Browns, the Sooners shatter their own record with another starting quarterback taking the reigns of an NFL offense. By multiple accounts, the Browns are turning over their starting quarterback spot to rookie Dillon Gabriel, Oklahoma’s starting quarterback in 2022 and 2023.
Oklahoma’s former quarterbacks are one of just a handful of position units from one school that have over five starters in the NFL, alongside groups like former Oklahoma offensive linemen, Ohio State wide receivers, Alabama and Clemson defensive tackles, and Georgia’s cornerbacks.
Former Sooner QBs in the NFL
- Three former number-one overall picks: Baker Mayfield (Cleveland Browns, 2018), Kyler Murray (2019), Caleb Williams (2024)
- Super Bowl MVP: Jalen Hurts (Super Bowl LIX)
- Six total Pro Bowl nominations
Dillon Gabriel Helps Sooners Break Their Own NFL Record
With the latest news of Dillon Gabriel getting his turn as a starter, Oklahoma can now turn to quarterback recruits and potential transfers and claim six different starting quarterbacks in the NFL since 2017. No other school can even come close to that status, and it adds plenty of weight behind Oklahoma’s selling of their pipeline.
With John Mateer’s NFL Draft stock growing more and more, it feels like the Sooners could add a seventh to that tally next season, with all of these names in just the last eight seasons. Oklahoma is churning out NFL-caliber quarterbacks at a rate we haven’t seen in decades, and that’s likely only going to keep happening with Ben Arbuckle as offensive coordinator, who already has a number-one overall pick on his resume with Cam Ward.
This pipeline is a big reason why 2026 elite recruit Bowe Bentley chose the Sooners in the end, and he seems poised to be Oklahoma’s next stud playmaker under center. With an offensive resurgence under Arbuckle and the Sooners back in the national spotlight, this type of pipeline will only grow in the future, which could establish serious staying power in recruiting for the future of the Sooners.
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