Taylen Green's electric debut may not have helped his Browns case like fans think

The most memorable play of the Cleveland Browns’ preseason rout of the Patriots on Thursday night came in the second half, with rookie quarterback Taylen Green in the shotgun, standing in his own end zone, facing a second-and-9. 

In a regular season game, the offensive play caller would be looking for something safe with an eye on protecting the football, avoiding a potential disaster, and gaining a couple extra yards for the punter. 

But this being a preseason game, Browns head coach Todd Monken was having none of that.

“I was like, ‘Hell, I’m going to throw it here,’” Monken said. “What am I gonna do, just run it? Not see him play?”

The play that followed is the highlight circulating social media and gaining likes and fire emojis as we speak. Green took the snap and surveyed the field from the end zone. He gave a hard pump fake. He scrambled right, then back left, evading a free Patriots rusher less than a yard away from the end line. 

Then he did exactly what he did over the past two college football seasons at Arkansas, finding daylight and bolting upfield for a gain of 30 yards.

“Somewhere there was going to be a [splash] play,” Monken said. “I didn’t know how. I didn’t expect to be backed up, almost get a safety. That’s what he is. He’s a tremendous athlete. Highly intelligent. You know? I mean, you saw it. There’s a lot to work with there. We just got to refine it.”

Green wound up rushing for 66 yards in the game on eight carries with the majority of the damage coming on scrambles. And while it was fun to watch the tantalizing 23-year-old run around and make some plays in his Browns preseason debut, it’s worth questioning whether he put enough on film to convince Monken and GM Andrew Berry to carry him on the initial 53-man roster, which must be decided on by Sunday night.

Green clearly has arm talent, as Monken put it after the game. But he’s not yet a passer, at least not at the NFL level. Facing a collection of Patriots backup defenders — a group that struggled all night, by the way — Green only completed 5 of 7 passes for 27 yards. He played the entire second half after Dillon Gabriel started and posted a near-perfect quarterback rating over the first two quarters.

“It was fun to watch them play,” Monken said of his QBs, “but just like every position, we’re going to have to cut it down. We can’t keep everybody.”

The Browns needed to evaluate Taylen Green as a passer, not just a playmaker

I don't mean to come off like a curmudgeon here. Green is extremely fun to watch. It’s easy to see why the Browns invested the first pick of the sixth round on him in April’s draft, No. 182 overall. 

But he’s gotten almost no meaningful practice reps since rookie minicamp, other than mixing in some during the joint practice with the Buffalo Bills. And while he did an admirable job making some plays on pure instinct and raw athletic ability on Thursday night, his propensity to put his head down and scramble did him no favors.

The Browns already knew that Green could do special things with his legs — but there may not be a more meaningless stat in sports than preseason scramble yards. Most of the players on the field during Thursday's second half were long shots to make an NFL roster this year. There was no game planning or adjustments whatsoever to account for Green’s knack for gaining chunk yards on the ground.

And that's why Green’s debut was a major missed opportunity. Fans loved the sizzle plays in the run game, but what really mattered was the boring stuff: Green’s ability to stand in the pocket, go through progressions, make good decisions, and stack accurate completions. 

Between the two Browns quarterbacks who saw the field on Thursday night, the difference in that area was staggering.

“You can see, he can really operate,” Monken said of Gabriel, who went 12 for 15 passing in the first half for 186 yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions, and no sacks. “He gets it. He gets what we want to do. He has a certain confidence about him when he takes the field.”

The Browns are definitely keeping three quarterbacks, and based on the preseason finale, the No. 3 job firmly belongs to Gabriel. 

The question now is whether the Browns keep a fourth QB in Green, essentially burning a roster spot to keep him off the waiver wire and in the team's development plan.

“I’m not going to get into that now,” Monken said when asked if the team could carry all four quarterbacks into Week 1 of the regular season. “[GM Andrew Berry] and I haven’t had a chance to really talk about that.”

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