A year ago, Hue Jackson was trying to talk himself into Robert Griffin III as the Browns' quarterback. After an injury-plagued season, Griffin was released this offseason and the process of finding a franchise QB began again. Cody Kessler, the 2016 third-round pick who started eight games as a rookie -- and, incidentally, went 0-8 -- was the front-runner, followed by Texans castoff Brock Osweiler, 2016 fifth-rounder Kevin Hogan and the player the Browns targeted in the second round of last month's draft, DeShone Kizer.
The Notre Dame standout was mentioned as a possible first-rounder throughout the fall and during much of pre-draft process but lasted until the 52nd pick, when the Browns grabbed him midway through Round 2. And now not only is Kizer taking part in his first OTAs, he's angling for the starting gig -- a process that involves being glued to Jackson's hip.
"It allows me to start my learning curve a little faster when you have the guy who's calling the plays, the guy who's created this offense ... teaching you every day the fundamentals,'' Kizer said this week, via Cleveland.com's Mary Kay Cabot. "It pushes you a little quicker than if it was someone else."
"I want to make sure I have my hand on him as much as I can," Jackson said.
And that won't change anytime soon.
"I will continue to [spend extra time with Kizer],'' Jackson said Wednesday. "I have to find out probably more about him than I do any of the guys. He's not going to get too far away from me, I know that. He's done a good job. He just has to keep getting better. He's improved from day to day."
Jackson, who has a knack for developing quarterbacks, gets a strong-armed talent in Kizer, who according to draft evaluators came into the league needing time to grow into a starting role.
"There's a lot thrown at him now, but he's doing a good job,'' Jackson said. "He's been better than some guys I have been around [while working against] our defense and all of the different things our defense does, which is only going to make our guys better. ... He has to learn how to play the game the way we want it played in our system. He's growing every day, but a lot of our guys are. Hopefully, you can see that there is better quarterback play throughout practice.''
Jackson made it clear earlier this month that Kessler will get the first crack at the starting job, and in the meantime Kizer will continue to work on this game.
"The best thing for me right now is to not compare myself to those guys," Kizer said. "I'm at a completely different level than they are. This is all brand new to me, so to compare myself to someone that's that far ahead of me would be probably tragic on my end because my self-esteem would go down. But at the same time, I'm holding myself to the same standards they are.''
