Player: DeShone Kizer
Position: Quarterback
College: Notre Dame
Draft Review
The Cleveland Browns were very smart to play it out during the first round of the draft this past Thursday. Instead of reaching for Mitchell Trubisky No. 1 overall, the quarterback-needy team took the best player in the draft, defensive end Myles Garrett from Texas A&M.
And when it looked like Cleveland might pull the trigger on Deshaun Watson at 12, it traded down with Houston for the 25th pick and a 2018 first-round pick. That's genius.
What made this even more genius for Cleveland is that Kizer, who had been bandied about as a potential first-round pick, fell on to their laps in the second half of Round 2.
Listen, Kizer is nowhere near ready to start. Heck, his former head coach at Notre Dame said that prior to the draft, a statement Kizer himself agreed with. He's more of a project, and like two years away from being starter-ready in the NFL. But he boasts the most upside of any quarterback in the draft class. He could very well be Cleveland's franchise quarterback here in the not-so-distant future.
What the Scouts Say
"The comparison to Steve McNair could raise eyebrows, but that is based primarily on size, mobility and arm strength. The aforementioned traits often land a quarterback in the first round, but Kizer's second-half drop in production combined with inconsistent decision-making and accuracy should be a speed bump for teams ready to jump in head-first on the traits.
Kizer has the ability to become a quality starter, but has to improve his ball placement and field vision first."
NFL Media
It's all about improvement here. If Kizer himself doesn't progress in the areas mentioned above, he will never be a starter-caliber quarterback in the NFL. The idea here is for the Browns to cultivate in him what other teams have in project quarterbacks taken in the past.
With Hue Jackson there to help Kizer understand the nuances of the game and fix his issues, there's no real reason to believe Kizer can't eventually turn into a good quarterback.
Depth Chart Competition
Brock Osweiler, Cody Kessler and Kevin Hogan are all likely ahead of Kizer on the depth chart heading into the off-season program. Depending on what happens with Osweiler, Kessler will likely be the Week 1 starter in Cleveland. For his part, Kizer would have to raise some eyebrows to even be active on game day.
Fantasy Outlook
No relevance whatsoever from a re-draft perspective. Even if Kizer were to somehow see the field as a rookie, he's simply not ready to perform at a high level in the NFL. Kizer himself also has very little appeal as a potential QB1 option in rookie drafts.
First off, we have no idea what type of skill-position talent he will be working with moving forward. Cleveland did a good job adding tight end David Njoku late in the first round, but everything else seems to be a crap shoot here.
Kenny Britt and Corey Coleman are the team's to starting receivers. Will Britt even be worth a hill of beans once Kizer earns the right to start? Meanwhile, there are question marks with Isaiah Crowell and Duke Johnson at running back in Cleveland.
As of right now, don't draft Kizer to be anything more than a QB2 option in rookie formats. He's also likely nothing more than a late-round pick in dyno formats. There's just too many unknowns here.