The Cleveland Browns quarterback situation may have taken another turn this week already. After naming Deshaun Watson the starter over Shedeur Sanders ahead of the regular season, Cleveland now appears to be weighing whether rookie sixth-round pick Taylen Green could factor into the Week 1 game plan against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

With Dillon Gabriel on injured reserve, the Browns carry three quarterbacks on their 53-man roster: Watson, Sanders, and Green. Coach Todd Monken was asked Monday whether Green could suit up for the Jaguars game as a special package player or even as the backup.

“Could be. There could be a package where we have him,” Monken said.

When asked if the Browns would activate three quarterbacks, Monken left the door open.

“That’s the word, possibly. It’s possible that we could use him in that,” Monken said.

Pressed on whether three active quarterbacks is too many for Sunday, Monken added: “I don’t think, well, if we could afford it, it’d be nice to have five or six quarterbacks up. But three is a lot.”

What this means for the Browns’ quarterback pecking order

Reading between the lines, it sounds like Cleveland will go with two active quarterbacks against Jacksonville and keep a third as an emergency option. If that’s the case and the Browns may want to use Green’s athleticism as a run threat, they would need to elevate him to the backup role behind Watson. That move would push Sanders down to emergency quarterback, meaning he could only enter the game if both Watson and Green were unable to play.

That development alone won’t sit well with Sanders supporters who expected him to be the backup at the very minimum after losing the starting job to Watson during training camp.

If the Browns do make Green the backup, it carries real weight given Watson’s injury history. An injury could pop up at any time, and Green would need to be ready to step in immediately. For a sixth-round rookie, that’s a significant ask in Week 1 against Jacksonville considering he didn’t play in the preseason outside of one half in the last game. 

Which quarterbacks Cleveland has active on Sunday will tell us a lot about how the Browns view their quarterback room heading into the season. The latest intel suggests the pecking order behind Watson might not be as settled as it seemed just a week ago.