Immediately following the conclusion of the 2025 season, fans were met with dejection as the subsequent draft class featured only one consensus first-round quarterback. Due to the Raiders' dubious "honor" of being the worst team in the NFL, the Browns never had a chance at Indiana's Fernando Mendoza.
It was a near-identical development to the previous year's class, in which the Browns were just out of reach of selecting the lone unanimous first-round QB prospect, Cam Ward. Alas, the team opted to double up on mid-to-late-round prospects Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders, with the latter at least showing some signs of life toward the end of the season.
The Browns' decision to select Arkansas quarterback Taylen Green at pick No. 182 represents Cleveland's latest dice roll at the position, and it's the exact kind of gamble worth making for an NFL franchise. Let me explain.
The Browns just took the kind of swing that actually makes sense on Day 3 of the NFL Draft
Oftentimes, teams settle for safe players in the draft. You know the type (cough, Dillon Gabriel, cough); there's not a whole lot of upside to a player with mediocre arm strength, subpar athleticism, and below-average measurables. Perhaps if you have one of the league's top quarterbacks, it's a sensible pick. Gabriel is a safe backup option who may be able to steal a win or two as a game manager. The Browns are not that team.
Conversely, when you're looking for a player who could wind up beating the odds and becoming a legitimate quarterback of the future as a late-rounder, you want a guy who has some unique tools. The hope is that your coaching staff can refine that rare ability into a problem on the field. Enter: Taylen Green.
Green is in truly rare air as an athlete. Among the Browns' entire 2026 draft class, Green's 9.99 Relative Athletic Score (RAS) ranked first. This score also tied for the highest in the entire draft with a few other outlier athletes. For those who may be unfamiliar, RAS is a measure of a prospect's athletic ability and size, compared to positional counterparts since 1987.
Green's athletic profile ranked second out of 1,128 quarterbacks in the dataset. All of these numbers may seem confusing, so let's put it into perspective. His 43.5" vertical jump bests Calvin Johnson's. The blazing 4.36-second 40-yard dash? Faster than Saquon Barkley. Finally, his 11-foot-2 broad jump displays otherworldly bounce — Nick Chubb leapt 10'08" for comparison's sake. Yeah, this dude's built different.
There's obviously a reason that he was available in the sixth round, and that's because he's very raw when it comes to, you know, throwing the ball. Green struggled with accuracy and decision-making throughout his college career, posting an uninspiring 60.2 percent completion rate and throwing 35 interceptions. Nonetheless, he still showed plenty of promise, throwing for 11,190 yards and 59 touchdowns, while adding 2,405 yards and 35 TDs on the ground.
Taylen Green is getting high praise across the NFL media landscape
It's the intoxicating potential that presumably earned him a mention on ESPN draft expert Louis Riddick's fifth annual favorite non-first-round prospects list. Riddick describes his criteria as: "[The non-first-round pick] from each team in the 2026 draft that could be a significant contributor [or] starter within the next 2–3 years."
Riddick clearly sees gobs of potential in Green, even if it's unrefined. Green can be likened to a Lamborghini without a steering wheel. If Todd Monken is able to play mechanic and harness all of that athletic ability into a viable starting quarterback, all bets are off. It's a longshot, to be sure, but Browns fans have every reason to be excited about this one.
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