Hue Jackson has backed away from the idea that DeShone Kizer is the Browns’ quarterback of the future. The Browns coach -- who might or might not return next season -- said after Sunday’s loss to the Ravens that it was fair to question whether Kizer will “ever get it.”
With the Browns playing the Bears, who are “very confident” Mitchell Trubisky is their quarterback of the future, Jackson was questioned Wednesday about whether Kizer can become that guy. Jackson changed course from what he has said much of this season.
“The quarterbacks on our football team, in general, just all of them, they all understand that we’re always trying to better our position,’' Jackson said Wednesday, via Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. “We did not draft a quarterback in the first round and say, ‘This is our quarterback of the future.’ We took a quarterback [in the second round]. We’re trying to grow him.
“We have a very young quarterback room. We need to continue to improve that room as much as we can as we move forward for it to be the best it can be. I understand when you take a guy in the second round, everybody suspects that that’s the guy. We wish it is. I mean you hope it is. But if it isn’t, that’s OK, too. And hopefully guy will continue to grow and get better, but you also have to continue to get better at the position.”
It was not a vote of confidence for Kizer, who has no reason to expect one with a league-high 19 interceptions, six lost fumbles and a league-worst 59.4 passer rating. The reality is the Browns are expected to use one of their first-round picks -- currently first and fifth -- on a quarterback after passing on drafting one in the first round the past three years. (Instead, Cleveland used six first-round choices on Danny Shelton, Cameron Erving, Corey Coleman, Myles Garrett, Jabrill Peppers and David Njoku.)
New Browns General Manager John Dorsey already has commissioned the team’s scouts to rank the top-12 college prospects.
“The conversations that I’ve had with [Dorsey] have been to stay on the path and continue to develop,’' Kizer said. “I’ve done my best to make sure that those conversations that are happening outside of this locker room don’t affect anything that I’m doing within this locker room.”