Cleveland Browns: Hue Jackson’s disappointment in DeShone Kizer
By Peter Smith
Hue Jackson’s handling of rookie DeShone Kizer in recent weeks may reveal just how much he has invested in the Cleveland Browns rookie signal caller.
Hue Jackson’s frustrations with Cleveland Browns rookie quarterback DeShone Kizer seem to be really weighing on him, like a father disappointed in his son. Jackson wants so badly for Kizer to succeed, but watching him make the same mistakes over and over is leaving him with little recourse but to put him to punish the young man. In this case, benching him.
Jackson was the driving force in picking Kizer. After the Browns were unable or unwilling to pay the price in order to obtain Mitchell Trubisky and Patrick Mahomes, the Browns drafted Kizer with the 52nd pick of the 2017 NFL Draft. And the room was divided on the selection. Ultimately, Jackson put his weight into the selection and the Browns got him.
Outside of Lake Dawson, the scout tasked with following Kizer around all season (now a part of the Buffalo Bills organization), Jackson didn’t seek a lot of input on Kizer. He did his own evaluation, trusted himself and didn’t do a ton of research when it came to speaking to people around Kizer, be it at Notre Dame or the people Kizer worked with in the offseason.
Jackson instead opted to trust himself and his ego, thinking he could take Kizer’s size, mobility and arm strength and fix him, ignoring the issues between the ears. Kizer’s a bright kid, but on the tape the issues with how fast he could read, how quickly he got rid of the ball and his decision making were all evident. For reasons Jackson will have to answer for himself, he didn’t really follow up on those issues, instead thinking he could fix them.
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Minicamp, training camp and even the preseason didn’t dissuade him, believing that he could get Kizer to be an effective quarterback. Even after the first couple games, even with the mistakes, Jackson kept insisting he could be the great quarterback he envisions, but that hasn’t the case the last few weeks.
As Kizer continues to struggle, especially with turnovers, the more frustrated Jackson has become. Adding to that, with what should have been a non-issue in Kizer being out at 1:30 a.m. on a Friday night, Jackson reacted like a father. He expected more from Kizer, because that’s his guy and he wants him to do the right things, like Jackson himself would do them.
The way in which Jackson deals with Kizer will be something to watch. He’s gone from a doting father figure talking about how great he believes Kizer to be to an authoritarian laying down the law, expecting results.
The team has announced that Kizer will again be the starter as the Browns take on the Minnesota Vikings. And that may say as much about the other quarterbacks on the roster as it does Jackson’s hopes in Kizer. It seems as though Jackson is realizing two things. First, the quarterback depth chart on this team is simply abysmal, so he might as well keep sending Kizer out there. And second, that maybe he was wrong and he can’t fix Kizer the way he thought he could or at least not as fast as he might have hoped. Unfortunately, Jackson was a major factor in creating the predicament that he now finds himself.
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Jackson is likely to face another situation where Kizer makes a costly turnover or few in a game and have to decide what to do. And if he does pull Kizer again, at what point does Kizer gets benched for the final team this season? Maybe Jackson’s tough love approach will have an impact on Kizer, but it really does seem to be more about Jackson being exasperated by Kizer repeating the same mistakes rather than thinking this will make a difference.
From a broader point of view, Jackson picked Kizer. Assuming Jackson is retained as the head coach, his influence within the organization might take a hit. The Browns passed on Carson Wentz, passed on Deshaun Watson and picked Kizer. It stands to reason that had Jackson wanted those other quarterbacks, he’d have one of them. Jackson wasn’t stupid in coming to Cleveland. He made sure he had input into the roster before taking the job and given his self proclaimed specialty was quarterbacks, he’d use it there.
So considering the issues he’s had in picking the right quarterback as well as the overall strain on him acting as a part time quarterback coach, head coach and offensive coordinator, something’s gotta give. It’s apparent he needs an offensive coordinator, which he doesn’t seem willing to admit. That would help.
And when it comes to the quarterback evaluation process, he may need to be more receptive to those around him. The front office may have far more of a stamp on whichever quarterback they choose, doing the due diligence Jackson didn’t with Kizer. Certainly, Jackson will weigh in on what he thinks and hopefully they all come to a consensus on the right guy, but Jackson likely won’t have the ability to simply put his foot down on a quarterback the way he did with Kizer. And given what he’s done with it to this point, there’s little reason he should.
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Hue Jackson’s time with the Cleveland Browns has been marred by trying to take on far too much and being stretched too thin. His ego was been a big part of why fans and media initially loved the hire, but it’s led to multiple of cases of foot-in-mouth disease. DeShone Kizer has been the epitome of this and, combined with the team’s record, could potentially lead to Jackson’s dismissal. Hopefully, it simply humbles Jackson and gets him to understand he can’t do everything himself and he needs to delegate more and trust those working around him to do their jobs.