Saturday, April 29, 2017
Associated Press
BEREA
The Browns found a quarterback right down the road.
They drafted one from Ohio, just not the one everyone expected.
Cleveland’s winding, seemingly aimless search for a franchise quarterback took them to nearby Toledo on Friday night as the team selected Notre Dame’s DeShone Kizer, who is very familiar with the team’s struggles to find a long-term solution at the NFL’s most vital position.
After ignoring their most pressing need in the first round and sidestepping quarterbacks, including hometown hero Mitchell Trubisky, who was chosen second overall by Chicago, the Browns selected Kizer in the second round with the No. 52 overall pick. The 6-foot-4, 233-pounder struggled last season for the Fighting Irish, but the Browns are intrigued with his size, arm and upside.
“Obviously, he has the measureables,” said coach Hue Jackson. “A big, physical quarterback who can make all the throws that anybody needs to make in the National Football League. He’s intelligent. So he has the characteristics that we’re looking for.”
Cleveland has been looking for what seems like forever for a quarterback. They’ve started 26 since 1999, when they returned as an expansion team. The Browns’ inability to find a dependable QB capable of lasting more than a year or two has been the single biggest reason for decades of ineptitude.
They’ve tried trading for QBs, signing them in free agency and acquiring them in trades. Nothing has worked.
Kizer hopes to end the Browns’ vicious cycle of futility. After spending Thursday night at the first-round festivities in Philadelphia, where he agonized as other players were chosen, Kizer went back home.
He’ll stay for a while.
“It was well worth the wait now that I’m going to stay home and be a Cleveland Brown,” he said.
While it’s way too early to know if Kizer, who left Notre Dame after his junior season, is Cleveland’s future, he at least gives Jackson another option next season along with Brock Osweiler, Cody Kessler and Kevin Hogan.
Jackson isn’t ready to commit to a starter.
“We need to get him here, just like all of them, and give him an opportunity to compete,” Jackson said. “We’re going to give all our guys an opportunity to compete. I think that’s what it’s all about. It’s not about who is the starter, who is this. Let’s let these guys get here and learn our offense and spend time with myself and (quarterbacks) coach (David) Lee and go out on the field and let’s see how it all turns out.”
With the first pick in the third, the Browns went back to defense with tackle Larry Ogunjobi from Charlotte. The 6-foot-3, 253-pounder is the first player from the school to get drafted.
After passing on a chance to take a quarterback on Thursday, Sashi Brown, the team’s head of football operations, said the Browns wouldn’t “force” picking a QB and would patiently wait for the right moment.
As the second round unfolded, Kizer was still on the board and Cleveland didn’t let him slip by. The Browns conducted pre-draft private workouts with Trubisky, Deshaun Watson and Kizer in anticipation of taking one of them.