Much of the focus in the Browns‘ training camp and preseason was on the Deshaun Watson vs. Shedeur Sanders quarterback battle, which Watson officially won on Monday.
On Thursday, though, another quarterback with a noteworthy background finally took the stage. Sixth-round rookie Taylen Green made his preseason debut in the second half of the Browns’ preseason finale against the Patriots, taking over after second-year quarterback Dillon Gabriel gave way.
(Gabriel, for what it’s worth, lit it up in the first half, going 12-for-15 for 186 yards and three touchdowns. That’s a good sign for both Cleveland, which selected him in the third round last year, and for Gabriel, who hadn’t exactly impressed this preseason.)
Pinned deep in his own territory on his first drive, Green nearly scrambled for a first down on third-and-9 but came up a yard short.
Then came the fun. Again in the shadow of his own end zone and behind the sticks, Green nearly pulled a Dan Orlovsky and ran out the back of his end zone, but instead turned a broken play into this …
He was accurate on a pair of short passes before showing off his legs again, first scrambling for 9 yards on third and 5 and later 5 more yards on third and 4. He also converted a quarterback sneak before Davon Booth capped the drive with a 12-yard rushing touchdown.
On his third drive, he added 12 more rushing yards on two carries, but the drive petered out when Green misfired badly on third and 9. The Browns’ defense got a late interception to set up Green for a chance at his first NFL touchdown, but Cleveland’s offense had to settle for a field goal to put a bow on a 37-13 win.
Overall, Green finished 5-for-7 for 27 yards throwing and had a game-high 66 rushing yards on just eight carries.
Why Taylen Green has our attention
Green is an absurd athlete, and not just in an “athletic for a quarterback” way. At the NFL combine back in February, the Arkansas product posted …
- a 43.5-inch vertical jump,
- an 11-foot, 2-inch broad jump and …
- a 4.36-second 40-yard dash.
The vertical jump and the broad jump were both best ever for a quarterback at the combine, and his 40-yard dash was the second-fastest for the position, only behind Michael Vick. All of that athleticism is packed into a 6-foot-6, 230-pound frame that is on par (or better than) the prototype quarterback numbers.
For some non-quarterback context, how about … DK Metcalf?
Green threw for 2,714 yards, 19 touchdowns and 11 interceptions (on an SEC-best 13.7 yards per completion) last year while also picking up 777 yards rushing and eight scores on the ground. But his falling to the sixth round wasn’t exactly an accident. For all the fun highlights and outrageous testing numbers, he completed only 60% of his career passes. He is the definition of a raw prospect, and there’s a long way to go in terms of accuracy and processing in an NFL offense.
In essence, he is the perfect preseason player at this stage of his career: a ton of fun and physical promise on display in a game full of backups.
What’s next for Taylen Green, Dillon Gabriel and Browns?
There have been outstanding athletes at the quarterback position who haven’t panned out. Anthony Richardson Sr. is the most recent notable example; he’s currently battling to be the Colts‘ backup after being the No. 4 overall pick in 2023.
Green doesn’t come with those gigantic expectations, though. As a sixth-round pick, he’s likely looking at a spot as a third or fourth-stringer or on the practice squad. Still, with roster cutdown day on Sunday, the Browns have an interesting decision to make. Will they keep three quarterbacks — generally the most any team keeps — or a basically unheard-of four?
The Browns, it should be noted, have had basically unheard-of quarterback misfortune. They started three different quarterbacks last year, four the year before, and five the year before that. Watson has started just 19 of 68 possible games since arriving in Cleveland and has had season-ending injuries in 2023 and 2024. With that perspective, keeping four doesn’t sound so unreasonable.
Coach Todd Monken said Green “played pretty well in the limited reps he had against the Bills” in joint practice last week, per The Athletic’s Zac Jackson, but also acknowledged there have been so few reps to go around to either Green or Gabriel, given the quarterback competition.
Cutting Gabriel would be a hard pill to swallow. He wasn’t a pick of the current coaching staff like Green was, but the same front office, headed by GM Andrew Berry, is still in place. And while Gabriel hasn’t had the smoothest training camp and preseason, he certainly played well Thursday. Green, on the other hand, is such a rare athlete that the Browns might not be able to sneak him onto the practice squad should the Browns cut him; other teams might be circling.
Cleveland made a big decision about their starting quarterback to start the week. They’ll make a big decision about their backup quarterback(s) to end it.
