NFL front offices can't make same Anthony Richardson mistake with Taylen Green

This feels like deja vu; Taylen Green blew the NFL Scouting Combine away with his elite athleticism. Without a doubt, he’ll leave Indianapolis as the most athletic player in the 2026 NFL Draft class. Sound familiar? Anthony Richardson turned heads with his NFL combine, historic numbers and it forced the Indianapolis Colts to take a massive gamble on Richardson with the No. 4 pick in the 2023 NFL Draft. 

It will be enticing to draft Green high because of his unreal athleticism. You can’t overlook that he’s still a development project. If nothing more, let Richardson be a lesson that rushing a quarterback’s development only hurts in the long run. Green wasn’t a top quarterback in college, which is why his athleticism won't immediately translate to NFL success; at least not as quarterback. 

Why Anthony Richardson’s NFL career path isn’t helping Taylen Green

Richardson was supposed to be a modernized version of Cam Newton by the time he reached his full potential. He was built just like Newton, had a strong arm and was extremely athletic. While he needed his passing mechanics to be tuned and to mature as a quarterback, those were overlooked by his intangibles. Now as good as Green’s NFL combine was, he won’t have the same benefit of driving up his draft stock. 

NFL front offices aren’t going to buy into the hype of a player that has strong physicals, but lacks skills at his primary position. Remember, Green has just one 3,000-yard season as a four-year starter. He never surpassed 20 passing touchdowns and had at least nine interceptions in each of his final three seasons. I’m not saying he can get there, but he has more experience than Richardson had coming out of college and he’s still not confidently one of the best quarterbacks. 

The fact that this is a weak quarterback class for the 2026 draft means people are going to try and make him the second best quarterback prospect behind Fernando Mendoza, but you can’t ignore that he’s not the player teams may want him to be because of his combine numbers. We already knew he was a solid athlete in college, just like Richardson. 

That’s why he can be an NFL quarterback, but it’s still going to take time to mold him into an NFL quarterback. He’s not NFL ready and his historic combine didn’t change that. There could be a path, however, for him to reach NFL stardom even if it’s not the most popular outcome. 

Why Taylen Green should consider a position change to reach his full potential

I am not a person that advocates for athletic quarterbacks to change their position just because they’re athletic. That said, Green isn’t like Lamar Jackson, for example, where he was as good of a quarterback as he is an athlete. Green isn’t that strong of a quarterback. And when you look at the fact that he’s 6-foot-6, it’s easy to see how he could be an elite receiver on an offense. 

Green had the 14th fastest 40-yard dash time at the combine and he’s a quarterback. Only seven receivers had a faster time than him. He’s going to need nurturing and time to become an NFL quarterback; he’s ready to be an impact receiver in the NFL. He could be a hybrid tight end/receiver and even a gadget player. 

This just feels like a golden opportunity for him to go from being an OK quarterback to being a star in the NFL. It will help him avoid the same fate Richardson had as being overhyped, only to underperform. 

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