Free agent quarterback DeShone Kizer is working out for the Detroit Lions this week. The news of the pending workout got the social media world buzzing about the former Notre Dame and Cleveland Browns starter.
While it’s never a bad idea to work out players, especially younger players, the Lions need to avoid biting into the Kizer apple. While it’s shiny and looks sweet on the outside, the actual experience of Kizer playing quarterback is terribly sour.
I covered Kizer and his 15-game run as the Browns starter in 2017. As managing editor of the Browns Wire, I intently watched every play. I watched every fumble, all nine of them. I had to break down every interception, all 24 of them. The Browns lost every game, and Kizer drove that bus straight over the winless cliff.
Was it all his fault? Heck no. The Browns committed myriad football sins in that year, from having an incompetent GM, Sashi Brown, who didn’t value talent as much as valued draft value, to trotting out one of the worst receiving corps in modern NFL history (Kenny Britt, Corey Coleman, Ricardo Louis). Coach Hue Jackson proved the offensive version of Rod Marinelli, a good man hopelessly swimming in waters well over his head as the leader of the entire football team. The veteran mentors for the second-round rookie were Cody Kessler and Kevin Hogan after Brown sold off Brock Osweiler for spare parts.
But Kizer was brutal on his own, too. His complete lack of decisiveness and anticipation was downright painful to watch. It led to the league-leading turnover figure. What really killed Kizer was his lack of ball security in the red zone. It was so astonishingly awful it merited a special breakdown.
DeShone Kizer leads all QBs in red-zone turnover percentage, giving the ball away on 9.5 percent of his red-zone plays.
Kizer had more red zone turnovers on his own that season (10) than any other entire team did. They were not flukish giveaways, either.
Despite playing behind one of the league’s best offensive lines (Joe Thomas, Joel Bitonio, JC Tretter, Kevin Zeitler, Shon Coleman), Kizer was a panicky mess. He utterly refused to throw the ball until he saw the receiver open, completely eliminating any semblance of timing on routes.
Putting his miserable Browns experience aside, look at what happened with Kizer in Green Bay. The Packers pounced, trading a starting safety (Damarious Randall) to land him as their latest “Aaron Rodgers eventual successor”. Lions fans witnessed that one firsthand. It went something like this…
When last we saw Kizer he completely wet the bed in the '18 finale against a lousy Lions team after Aaron Rodgers tapped out because they were losing https://t.co/SnjMAlyUOr
— Jeff Risdon (@JeffRisdon) August 28, 2020
Kizer’s stat line from his backup duty in Green Bay — another team that featured a pretty good offensive line: 20-for-42, 187 yards, 0 TDs, 2 INTs, 4 sacks, 1 fumble. The Packers quietly dumped him after the season, less than 10 months after they traded away a former first-round pick to get him, brimming with promise. He hasn’t played since, sitting on the Raiders bench as their No. 3 QB last year behind Derek Carr and Mike Glennon.
Could Kizer turn it around and prove doubters like me wrong? It could happen. The draftnik in me that liked him coming out of Notre Dame still hopes it happens for Kizer, a genuinely nice and smart young man who does have some physical tools. But the odds of that happening in Detroit simply aren’t worth the time in this altered summer.