DeShone Kizer: The Wait Was 'Well Worth It'
The wait was “well worth it” for DeShone Kizer.
Though he wasn’t picked in the first round of the NFL Draft on Thursday, the former Notre Dame quarterback heard his name called Friday evening, being taken No. 52 overall by the Cleveland Browns.
Kizer attended the first round of the draft, but returned to his hometown of Toledo, Ohio, for the second round. He said his whole family is fans of the Browns, and he’s able to draw a connection between the 4-8 season Notre Dame had in 2016 and the Cleveland franchise.
“From the experiences I was able to go through in this 2016 season, the experiences of going through the 2015 season and comparing them,” Kizer said, “from having some success to not as much success, I will be able to hopefully bring that over and continue to learn as much as I possibly can, and then try to do whatever I can to contribute to winning some games.”
Kizer, the first Notre Dame quarterback to be selected in the NFL Draft since Jimmy Clausen in 2010, said he had a good relationship with Browns Executive Vice President of Football Operations Sashi Brown, head coach Hue Jackson and quarterbacks coach David Lee.
He said he had two informal interviews with the AFC North franchise, then the Browns saw him at his March 23 pro day in South Bend.
The Browns drafted Texas A&M defensive end Myles Garrett first overall. They also took Michigan’s Jabrill Peppers and Miami’s David Njoku in the first round.
“Obviously, I owe it to them for pulling the trigger on me,” Kizer said.”
One of the main knocks on Kizer was his lack of accuracy at Notre Dame. He completed just 58.7 percent of his passes as a junior in 2016. The 6-foot-4, 230-pound Kizer was a two-year starter for the Fighting Irish. He joins a quarterback room that (currently) includes Cody Kessler, Brock Osweiler and Kevin Hogan.
Whether he wins a starting job largely depends on his ability to be accurate.
“Accuracy and consistency are two good questions that have been asked quite a bit in the past couple of months going into the draft,” Kizer said. “I have already made some adjustments, and I am very confident. Through workouts with Coach Jackson and Coach Lee, I was already able to make some minor switch-ups with them. It has helped me out quite a bit already.
“With that, I am very confident that once I get into their system and I am able to be in their facility with them that those improvements will continue and I will be able to become a much more accurate thrower.”