From the Athletic -
Jackson: DeShone Kizer shows poise and maturity to be Browns QB very soon
Zac J
ackson
August 1 2017
BEREA, Ohio — Five days into training camp and nine days from the preseason opener, there's no leader in the Browns' quarterback competition and there's been
no change in how it's being conducted.
There is, however, a feeling of inevitability, both with the competition and the course of the season.
DeShone Kizer's time is coming. And though it might not be next week or even next month, the rookie is going to be the Browns' starting quarterback in 2017. No one has jumped out to any kind of lead in the camp competition — maybe for lack of opportunity but probably for lack of ability — and Kizer continues to steadily progress and impress.
Let's start there. Let's stop there, actually. Kizer is still 21, still admittedly learning the playbook and his teammates and everything involved with the NFL. He's made some great throws in camp. He's had some bad misses. He looks, runs and throws like an NFL quarterback. He looks, runs and throws like an AFC North quarterback. But it's not like he's outperforming a couple of Pro Bowlers out there. And it's not like every day he's even outperformed Cody Kessler and Brock Osweiler.
But those guys aren't going to be in the team's long-term plans, and Kizer might be. Kizer has the tools and appears to have the poise and work ethic the really good ones have. Kizer was the first player on the practice field Monday afternoon, as he often has been. He's almost always been the last one to leave the practice field too.
After most practices Kizer runs 100-yard sprints, then walks and talks himself through the plays he observed but didn't actually rep during practice. He's thrown a few passes after practices but mostly walks himself through plays and situations, sometimes with Kessler and sometimes by himself. He's said it's all about being thorough, improving his comfort level with huddle communication and allowing himself to make sure he at least walks through every read and play call.
“With the play calls, it's a completely different game,” Kizer said. “In college, you got a couple hand signals, you said three words to the offensive line and then you were running the play.”
He's sounded like a 10-year veteran at other times, too. In a radio interview with 92.3 in Cleveland last week, Kizer said he focused too much on himself during Notre Dame's quarterback competition last summer and wasn't a good enough teammate or leader at the time.
“As a quarterback, you understand the playbook at a completely different level,” Kizer said. “My fellow rookies, I can help them with that. [Last year] I shied away from my teammates. I told myself I was going treat the job as if I am going to be the starter so if that day does come and my name is called those guys aren't shocked, aren't surprised.
“I needed to start acting like a starting quarterback the day I walked into this facility.”
Hue Jackson has conceded that Kizer is ahead of where he believed he might be at this point. Jackson has been in Kizer's ear after nearly every throw the rookie has made in camp, good and bad. That will continue even if Kizer starts getting more reps after the intrasquad scrimmage Friday, which Jackson has said will be a key evaluation point in the competition.
Most days, Kessler has worked with the first team, Osweiler has worked with the second and Kizer has split reps with the No. 1 offense later in practice. That has allowed Kizer to watch in practice, then walk himself through some of the plays Kessler got after practice.
“I can't even think about starting yet, still,” Kizer said late last week. “There's still so much learning to do. Consistency, accuracy…those things I feel very confident about but until we get to the season and start game-planning, I won't know what it's like to be a starting quarterback.
“It's not in my hands. My job is to do as much as I can to learn as much as I can and…whenever that time comes, be ready to step in.”
The Browns set up two podiums adjacent to one another every day during training camp for lunchtime interview sessions. Last Friday, Osweiler talked to reporters on one while Isaiah Crowell conducted an interview 15 or so feet away at the same time. Kessler and Kizer were fulfilling other obligations at the time, and Kessler came to the interview tent before Kizer did after Osweiler and Crowell had departed.
When Kizer approached the tent, a team employee pointed him toward the second podium. But Kizer recognized that Kessler's interview was still going on, and more important, he recognized that if he stepped to the podium that all the attention would go his way, too.
He stepped back and let Kessler finish the interview. That was a little thing, a subtle thing, but it showed his awareness of the situation and respect for his teammate.
Now, none of this means he'll ever be accurate enough on the field or resilient enough off of it. Ten years ago, the Browns drafted an Ohio-born quarterback from Notre Dame who spent countless hours at the facility and was a great person.
Brady Quinn was never good enough to elevate a franchise, and we're probably years away from knowing if Kizer can be good enough. But we're likely just weeks away from seeing him on the field and seeing the official beginning of a promising career.
