Cleveland Browns

Browns rookie DeShone Kizer explains why he isn’t thinking about starting right now

Published May. 16, 2017 11:34 a.m. ET

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Cameron DaSilva

The Cleveland Browns have a lot to sort out this offseason, but the biggest question mark remains at quarterback – the position that has plagued the franchise for two decades. The main competition will be between Cody Kessler, DeShone Kizer and Brock Osweiler with the best man in practice winning out.

Kizer, a rookie second-round pick, has the highest ceiling of the bunch, but his floor might be the lowest, too. Though he has the makings of a franchise quarterback, he’s also raw and probably a year away from being able to compete for a starting job. He didn’t go as far as to say he’ll need a season of riding the pine, but Kizer realizes he’s not ready to start right now.

"There's so much I need to learn before I can even consider thinking about competition and trying to play,'' Kizer said, via the Cleveland Plain Dealer. "Right now, I'm at step one. I need to get to level 500 before I can even consider stepping on an NFL field."

Fortunately, he landed in a good situation with quarterback guru Hue Jackson. His expertise in developing QBs should help Kizer rise up the depth chart, at least passing Osweiler in that regard. Taking the job from Kessler will be a bigger challenge, considering Jackson has said it’s his to lose.

"I'm not babying him -- that's for sure -- because the other teams won't baby him, either,'' Jackson said. "He just has to get used to it, and I think he has. He's been outstanding that way. He gets it. He knows that my charge for him is a consistency level at a high level all of the time, and that is not going to happen in two days.''

"The only thing I've been studying is the playbook,'' Kizer said. "Once again, I can't even worry about playing my first year nor competing in practice in a couple of weeks until I understand how to run this offense."

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