The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Kizer says he isn’t ready to compete for QB job
DeShone Kizer has been the ultimate team player since his first practice with the Browns, and now the rookie quarterback from Notre Dame is also a wealthy team player.
Kizer on June 14 signed a four-year, $4.9 million contract, the team announced before the start of Day 2 of a threeday minicamp at team headquarters in Berea.
The deal includes a $1.7 million signing bonus.
Safety Jabrill Peppers and tight end David Njoku, both first round picks, are the only Browns rookies yet to sign. A rookie not under contract cannot participate in training camp.
The Browns open their 19th training camp of the expansion era in late July.
Kizer met with the media moments before the announcement and repeated what he has said before — that he is not ready to even compete for a starting job. Second-year player Cody Kessler and Brock Osweiler are vying for the starting job, but Kizer should not be ruled out.
“I’m pretty happy with where I am right now in the sense this whole OTA experience and now veteran camp was an opportunity to put myself in position to potentially compete when it comes training camp time,” Kizer said. “Once again, I’m not in position to even consider myself in the competition, but after getting this base (offense understanding) and getting the reps I’ve gotten the last couple weeks, I think by the time training camp comes around, with a little more work with this month off, I’ll be ready to compete with these guys and see what I can do.”
The three-day minicamp concludes June 15. Coach Hue Jackson says he would like to name his starter for the 2017 season before the first preseason game, but like a Hollywood director setting up a cliff-hanger before the summer reruns begin, Jackson sent Kizer out with the first offense in the first set of team drills on June 14.
“I told you guys that I’m just going to mix and match and keep going,” Jackson said after practice. “He’s been going with the ones. He has since OTAs started and since minicamp started. I just changed the rotation a little bit. That’s all.”
Kizer was the fourth quarterback drafted in 2017.
Mitchell Trubisky went second to the Bears, Patrick Mahomes went 10th to the Chiefs and Deshaun Watson went 12th to the Texans. All three were acquired by their respective new teams moving up in the draft.
Kizer’s humility, which seems genuine, is the opposite of the brashness he showed in the weeks leading up to the draft.
“No one else can do what I can do,“Kizer told reporters
on April 20 in South Bend, Ind.. “I do have the ability to be the greatest quarterback ever to play.
“Imagine taking [Patriot quarterback Tom] Brady’s intellect and Brady’s preparation and putting it on a guy with (Panther quarterback) Cam Newton’s body. Why can’t I be the greatest? The only thing stopping me from it is me.”
The cocky attitude might have made some quarterback
needy teams pass on Kizer. Browns head coach Hue Jackson chose another tact. He sat the 6-foot4, 233-pound Kizer down quickly and served him humble pie.
“[Jackson] laid it right to me,” Kizer said on June 14. “And he said, ‘Look, this is not about you playing right away. This is not about a timetable on when you’re going to play. It’s about you just learning as much as you possibly can and becoming a better quarterback.’
“This is a completely different level, and to sit here and say that a month’s worth of learning that offense and being out here is enough to be a starter would be really naive of me.”
Kizer has shown improvement since the rookie minicamp two weeks after the draft, but he still isn’t ready to go head to head with Kessler and Osweiler in a battle for the starting job, Jackson said.
“We’ll see,” Jackson said. “Not yet. I just think there’s a lot of work to do and a lot of growing to do. As I said before, I won’t know more about him – I’ll get to know more about him though, I should say, as I keep putting him out there and keep putting him in tough situations.”
Kizer started 23 of 25 games at Notre Dame. He passed for 5,809 yards and 47 touchdowns and rushed for 992 yards and 18 touchdowns. He threw 19 interceptions.