Sid, He was a tremendous college QB, he has great character, he's a smart kid apparently and I think he will graduate this spring. Not to mention he is a winner, he came close to winning back to back NC's, Alabama got away from Clemson by the skin of their teeth in 2015 and didn't in 2016. But that said, the system he played in college isn't known for producing great NFL QB's. He's more like Robt Griffin III, IMHO, than Andrew Luck. But I have no doubt that he will come in here and work his ass off to become a NFL QB. Maybe he can become another Russell Wilson, that would work!
Jim, you called that one dead on! I will never understand the Browns and their inexcusable picks on QBs. Kizer I am afraid will be dead in the water with Cleveland, like so many others before him.
I wouldn't be so quick to assume Kizer will be a no-show in the NFL. An eventual starter? Possibly. A star? Likely not. A dependable career NFL QB? Potentially. He has natural talent - size and arm strength - that you can't teach. IMO it all depends on how he picks up - or not - the mental part of the game and how long it takes him. He has the intelligence, but based on his recent comments he has much to learn. I'm thinking a Randall Cunningham kind of guy. RC was big and very talented. He had a solid NFL career but was never HoF material.
When Kizer went head-to-head against Jameis Winston, Kizer looked like the better QB. James is now the starting QB for Tampa Bay. He probably has maturity issues and not sure how dealing with Kelly impacted his psyche but he has the arm and athleticism to be a NFL qb.
I was not trying to tear Kizer down, just the way the Brown's have thrown their young draftees into the system, without proper guidance and coaching to succeed! I hope he proves to be an exception.
Kizer didn't play in that epic highway robbery down in Tallahassee in 2014 that was Everett Golson. In 2015 Kizer was excellent and people were talking a lot about him being a highly rated NFL prospect. Last year he regressed, many ND fans put it on Kelly and his tendency to rag on his QB's on the sideline and his offense. That might be true, but it's also true that he had a whole new bunch of WR's, and that his top RB was injured in the early part of the season and the other 2 RB's really didn't do too well. Not to mention the OL which was thought to be a good group, underachieved all year. But Kizer also reportedly didn't have a good combine or a great Pro-day. Then Kelly made some comments that weren't very supportive of Kizer, although he was probably right that Kizer needed to stay another year, still he didn't need to say that. Then DeShone didn't help himself with his comments either. But other than it's the Browns, the graveyard of QB's, going 52nd isn't all that bad, if he plays out his rookie deal he'll likely make around 5M for the first 4yrs. He's got talent, and I think Hue Jackson is a pretty good coach, so I think he's got a chance to be really good after sitting and watching at least a year. I won't be shocked if 4 years from now people are talking about what a steal he was in the draft. I do think he won't have the same outcome though as Johnny Football, thank goodness!
Watching Michigan's Jake Butt slide down the draft board after getting injured in the Orange Bowl, and neither Leonard Fournette or Christian McCaffrey being penalized for not playing makes you wonder if with the exception of teams involved in the Nat'l Championship playoffs if we'll see more highly rated players skip the bowl games which for the most part are meaningless exhibition games. Fans of course love to see their team go to bowls and win bowls, and it'll be another blow to the bowls if star players start declining to play.
In defense of the Browns, Kizer wasn't their first draft choice, or the second, or the third. The filled other holes before they took a QB candidate. Now this draft didn't have sure-fire, can't miss QBs like Ryan Leaf or Jamarcus Russell, and even the first few taken were hit or miss picks. Who would have thought that Dak Prescott would put Tony Romo into retirement in one season? Kiser has the size, mobility and arm to develop into an NFL QB. Amazingly, the Browns don't feel comfortable with relying just on Brock Osweiler and Kevin Hogan as QBs this season. AT some point, maybe after an injury or a 5 game losing streak Kizer might get a shot. Who knows he might just pan out.
I was so disgusted by the obvious lack of on the field effort by the UF defense vs. Michigan in the Citrus Bowl last year that I didn't attend one game this past season for the first time in decades.... not even and most especially the Outback Bowl right here in Tampa. In fact McElwain used that Citrus Bowl ******** performance to motivate the Gators into a stellar effort in the thrashing of Iowa in the Outback. The Citrus Bowl featured several Gator players on defense that showed up for about two series in the first half before completely tanking it until I had to get out of there early in the 3rd quarter because it was so obvious that NFL was on their minds. We would have been better off that game if eager subs were playing in the second half instead of the NFL bound millionaires to be.