The Cleveland Browns are obviously feeling better about themselves following their first win of the NFL season, a 23-19 upset over the Buccaneers on the road on Sunday in Week 2. Quarterback Deshaun Watson looked competent, even good in the second half, and the defense was not shredded the way they were in Week 1 in Jacksonville. There is a lot to clean up, especially the team’s performance in short-yardage situations.
The offensive line has held up in pass blocking, but run blocking has been a tough fix and Watson is not much of a short-yard diver. But Mary Kay Cabot, the longtime Cleveland.com Browns beat writer, said on 92.3 The Fan in Cleveland that she has a better idea for Todd Monken and the Browns: dust off athletic, 6-foot-6 developmental rookie quarterback Taylen Green when the team is pressed to get a yard or less.
Taylen Green Built for Short-Yard Sneaks
The Browns have Green on the roster as the emergency quarterback on game days, but on on the 53-man. They can’t move him to the practice squad for fear he will be poached by another team. So perhaps Monken should find a way to make him useful. Let him line up in one-yard situations and simply use his length to stretch for the first down.
Said Cabot on The Fan: “Some of it is going to start with finding a running game somehow, some way. I am going to throw this out there, too, I still maintain that I would find a way to get Taylen Green to convert a fourth-and-1 or help you out in short yardage. I don’t know how they would do it, I don’t know what other player they could sacrifice.”
Browns Don’t Want to Bump Shedeur Sanders
The Browns could bump Shedeur Sanders from the QB2 spot and put Green into that role, but the team does not trust Green enough in case Watson gets hurt. So Sanders stays. But those short-yard issues are a problem for the Browns, and Green is a potential solution–if Cleveland can come up with a spot on the roster on Sundays.
More from Cabot: “I know they don’t want to do it with Shedeur Sanders. But I would have him available as a weapon, especially because you lost Dylan Sampson who was arguably your most dynamic runner, and to have somebody who runs a 4.36 and is 6-foot-6, I feel like I would find a way to get him out there. They need to find a running game.”
Browns Urged to Use Little-Seen 6-Foot-6 Rookie in Critical Situations