Evaluating QB DeShone Kizer's NFL Combine Performance

Former Notre Dame quarterback DeShone Kizer has wrapped things up at the NFL Scouting Combine, and overall it was a mixed bag performance.

Not surprisingly, it seems that Kizer performed quite well in the off-the-field part of the Combine, with San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch being the most outspoken with his praise for Kizer.

“Last night we had an interview with DeShone Kizer,” Lynch said to reporters on Thursday. “This whole thing is not about an interview, but if we’re grading him on that alone, he blew the doors off of it. He’s an impressive young man. His film is impressive, too.”

Having covered Kizer the last two years this is not surprising. He’s a very polite, well-spoken and intelligent young man. In that regards, Kizer has what you want from a franchise quarterback. No matter whether he was coming off a dominating performance or a tough loss, Kizer always handled himself with great poise in front of reporters.

The rest of his combine performance was not quite as impressive.

NOTE: I am a college football analyst, not an NFL analyst or a draft expert. This evaluation is strictly about Kizer’s football and athletic performance. How it will help or hurt his draft stock is to be determined by NFL executives, coaches and scouts.

Only California quarterback Davis Webb (6-5) measured taller than Kizer, who checked in at 6-4 and 233 pounds. Kizer showed off his prototype dropback quarterback size, showing not only height, but broad shoulders and a frame that has allowed him to hold up to a lot of punishment over the last two seasons at Notre Dame.

Kizer was credited with 263 carries the last two seasons for the Irish, but he was able to stay healthy, and his big frame is part of that. Scouts and personalities that cover the draft like to talk about hand size for quarterbacks, and Kizer checked in with a 9 7/8” hand size, which tied for third of all 15 quarterbacks to be measured.

During athletic testing, Kizer finished at or near the bottom of the various workouts. His 4.83 forty-yard dash time was 9th out of 12 quarterbacks to make the run. His 30.5-inch vertical jump finished 8th out of 13 quarterbacks to workout. His 8’11” broad jump was 11th out of 13 quarterbacks to partake in that drill.

Kizer’s 4.53 pro-shuttle run was disappointing. It was the slowest time among all quarterbacks at this year’s combine, and in the last five combines only two quarterbacks – Duke’s Anthony Boone (4.60) and Southern Utah’s Brad Sorensen (4.55) – were slower. Boone went undrafted and Sorensen was a 7th Round pick of the San Diego Chargers.

Kizer’s times were significantly slower than other top quarterbacks at the event like former Clemson quarterback DeShaun Watson (4.66 forty, 9’11” broad jump) and former North Carolina quarterback Mitchell Trubisky (4.67 forty, 9’8” broad jump). Evaluating Kizer against those two players, who are smaller quarterbacks that play a bit of a different style is probably not the ideal way to properly evaluate Kizer’s athletic performance.

This graphic compares Kizer to other dropback style quarterbacks with similar size or skills to Kizer that were picked in the first two rounds of the last five drafts.

Kizer is built similar to former No. 1 pick Jameis Winston, who had a slower forty time, shorter broad jump and shorter vertical jump than Kizer. Like Kizer, Winston wasn’t an elite athlete but he was athletic enough to handle himself in the pocket and to make plays with his legs.

In two years as the starting quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Winston has rushed for 378 yards and seven touchdowns, and he was never the in-game runner in college that Kizer was for the Irish. In his two years as a starter for Florida State (2013-14), Winston rushed for 284 yards and seven touchdowns. In Kizer’s two seasons as the starter for Notre Dame he rushed for 992 yards and 18 touchdowns.

Kizer's overall testing numbers also compare quite favorably to last year's No. 1 overall pick - Jared Goff - despite Kizer having 18 pounds on the former California and current Los Angeles Rams quarterback and a far more impressive track record as a runner.

Overall, Kizer's athletic testing was right in line of what I expected from him. The only exception is the abnormally slow pro-shuttle time, which is a measure of change of direction ability and foot quickness.

Kizer’s performance during the throwing drills was similar to his on-field performance during Notre Dame’s 2016 season. There were throws he made that were outstanding, arguably better than what we saw from any other quarterback at the event.

The issue for Kizer was there were too many missed throws on relatively easy routes that were due to poor mechanics. It caused his overall performance to suffer compared to other top quarterbacks, but the positive is that Kizer was able to show off the arm talent that has some – like NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock – ranking him as the top quarterback in this draft.

It was obvious that Kizer is still in the infancy stages in regards to straight drop back footwork from under center. During his Notre Dame career the majority of his snaps under center were either run plays or play-action passes. Kizer is used to shotgun drops, which do not require a quarterback to concern himself with getting depth at the snap.

During the workout today, Kizer’s steps were too short and he got very little depth with his drops. On quick throws he was less than three yards away from the line and on five-step drops he was often closer to yards or less from the center.

It is unlikely these issues are going to cause concern for coaches, as they can be taught and corrected should the team that drafts Kizer want him under center more frequently.

Kizer showed good accuracy throwing the quick game early in the workout. He was quick into his drop and led the receivers while throwing with a high release.

On his first two out throws to his left – which in the video above is at the 2:30 mark – Kizer fails to drive off his back foot and his arm doesn’t time well with his lead step. Kizer’s arm starts to go forward before his feet are in position to aim and drive the ball. This throws off his release point, causing his first pass to sail high and his second throw is behind. It also saps him of a bit of velocity, but his arm strength is enough to get the ball out.

He drives off his back foot much better on his third throw but his lead step is too narrow, which keeps his hips from opening up and prevents him from ripping the ball out to the sideline.

On his fourth out throw to the left, Kizer locks his front leg too much, which causes his front shoulder to dip and causes his release point to be a bit high. He does a better job ripping through the throwing zone and gets good velocity on his throw, but it’s a bit high; catchable, but high.

Kizer threw the in routes to his left quite well. His ball placement wasn’t ideal, but in a setting like this where a quarterback is throwing to a receiver for the first time I don’t put much emphasis on that. What I liked was how well Kizer drove off his back foot and his arm speed. He snapped the ball off, and these two throws really showed off his arm talent. The ball exploded out of his hand on both throws and got on the receivers in a hurry.

On the out throw to the right that begins at the 3:30 mark, Kizer double taps his feet at the top of his drop, which throws off the timing of the pass. He’s a step late getting the ball out, but he does show impressive velocity. Kizer’s pass doesn’t get the height or loft that I saw from most of the other quarterbacks (that's a good thing), which is an indication of the power he can get on throws and how well the ball jumps out of his hand. We saw the same thing on the in routes just discussed.

Kizer’s base is a bit too wide on the second curl route he threw to his right (3:49 mark). It causes his lead shoulder to dip and causes a late release, which results in his pass driving down into the shoe tops of the receiver.

His next throw is one of his best. The timing of the throw is good and Kizer snaps the ball out with ease. He still locks his lead leg too much, but that’s been an issue for him all along.

Kizer aims his first post-corner to the route just a tad, but he leads the receiver and the timing on the throw was excellent. His next two post-corners were good as well other than him double tapping at the top of his drop on the third toss, but his throw was on the money and hit the receiver over the top on the sideline.

For the most part Kizer's arm speed was good, and the ball jumped out of his arm as well as any quarterback at the event. His accuracy issues were a result of inconsistent footwork, traits that a good position coach can help correct.

Kizer once again displayed elite physical tools, but at his Pro Day he must finally show some mechanical consistency and accuracy with his throws.

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