The Browns and new head coach Todd Monken were willing to give Taylen Green a shot.
We all wondered which NFL team would be willing to give Taylen Green a chance to prove himself in the world of professional football. The Cleveland Browns became that team on Saturday, taking the Arkansas quarterback early in the sixth round at pick No. 182.
The Browns, who made a coaching change this past offseason, watched Kevin Stefanski move to Atlanta to lead the Falcons. Cleveland brought in someone Arkansas and SEC football fans know well: Todd Monken, Kirby Smart's former offensive coordinator at Georgia. He is the latest in a series of coaches to lead the Browns, the AFC's most snakebitten franchise in the Super Bowl era. The Browns have not yet been to a Super Bowl. The only other AFC teams which haven't made the big game: the expansion Houston Texans and Jacksonville Jaguars, who are several decades younger than the Browns franchise. Monken is being asked to lead a revival in Cleveland, and he took a flier on a project at quarterback with Taylen Green.
It is worth noting that the Browns now have four quarterbacks on their roster. Deshaun Watson, Shedeur Sanders, Dillon Gabriel, and Taylen Green are all in the room in Cleveland. Does this mean Todd Monken will move Green to a receiver or running back/hybrid role? It might be the perfect situation for Green for that precise reason. Monken is a creative offensive thinker. He might be the right coach to use Green's talents in a way which maximizes his potential.
Taylen Green might not be a great passer, but he is a very athletic young man. Green starred at the NFL combine, as we noted nearly two months ago:
"Green, who measured in at 6-foot-5⅞ inches tall and 227 pounds, ran a wide-receiver-worthy 40-yard dash in an official time of 4.36 seconds to go with a 43½-inch vertical jump and a broad jump of 11-2. All three are records for quarterbacks since at least 2003, according to ESPN Research."
There is a lot of raw material to work with here. Raw, but filled with potential. Todd Monken surely has an idea of what to do, or at the very least, how he can begin to experiment, with Taylen Green's talent. This is going to be a fascinating journey for Green, who won't be joining a championship-quality NFL organization but might be going to a team and head coach which will give him reps and a chance to find the role which fits him as an NFL player.