Why I'm Not Down on DeShone Kizer

   Actually, the title of this article is a lie.  Truthfully I'm down on Kizer or just about any rookie quarterback this side of DeShaun Watson.  Rookie quarterbacks are usually terrible.  Once in a while you get a guy who is outstanding as a rookie, like Robert Griffin, DeShaun Watson or Ben Roethlisberger.  But it is much more common for rookies to be awful. 
    Kizer, it must be confessed, has put up some terrible numbers.  19 INTs versus 9 TDS, interception percentage of 4.6%.  But if you look around the league, that's about what usually happens if your team is dumb enough to start a rookie quarterback in Game 1.  Check out some of these numbers.  I just list the quarterback rating and interception percentages, but trust me, the rest of the numbers areq equally bad.   I'm not saying Kizer is necessarily as good as these guys, but he has not disqualified himself either:
                                 

	Rating	INT pct
Alex Smith	40.8	6.7
John Elway	54.9	5.4
Eli Manning	55.4	4.6
DeShone Kizer	59.4	4.6
Jared Goff	63.6	3.4
Troy Aikman	55.7	6.1

Because underclassmen are now being drafted to the NFL, guys like Kizer are coming with less experience than ever before.  Instead of four years of major college experience, he came to the Browns with only two.   Normal quarterback development would call for the player to have a good year by the second year out of college.  For Kizer, 2017 is his junior year at Notre Dame.  2018 is the senior year, 2019 he gets drafted but stays on the bench at first and he's ready to play for real in his second year as a Pro which would be 2020.  That's a normal development.  Instead, the Browns felt they could condense the development process into three months, and get Kizer ready three years early, in what should be his junior year at Notre Dame.  This is delusional, and I wish it would stop. 

DeShone Kizer is too early in his development to make any lasting judgment.  

      Kizer might be great or he might be terrible, but not very much is gained by playing him three years before he is ready. We know he has some good characteristics.  He's obviously psychologically tough, intelligent, hard working and throws a great ball.  But beyond that I can't tell where he is headed. I don't believe the coach can either.  The Browns are just going to have to keep him on the roster for another two years, and then they can form an opinion on him.