Cleveland Browns: John Dorsey May End DeShone Kizer Experiment
By Erik Lambert
Make no mistake. John Dorsey was hired by the Cleveland Browns for one reason. To make the franchise a winner for the first time in nearly two decades.
That means one things is inevitable: change. Whatever the Browns were trying to accomplish under Sashi Brown, it wasn’t working. Aside from stockpiling loads of draft picks, there really wasn’t any significant move he made that panned out. None more glaring than at the quarterback position. DeShone Kizer is a rookie. It’s not entirely fair to say he’s been a bust after one season but the fact is he wasn’t selected by Dorsey.
Adding to this is the fact that Dorsey will go into 2018 with a large list of possible options at the position. Free agency could feature names like Kirk Cousins and Eli Manning. Word persists that the Chiefs, Dorsey’s former team, will put Alex Smith up for sale via trade. Then there’s the last little nugget that Cleveland will in all likelihood hold the #1 overall pick at seasons’ end.
This raises the odds that he could go after a new quarterback, be it somebody like Sam Darnold, Josh Rosen or even Lamar Jackson. Put simply Kizer has not done enough to show Dorsey that he deserves to keep the job beyond 2017.
Browns equipped to overhaul entire QB position at expense of Kizer
There is still a chance that Dorsey could stick with Kizer, instead using the Browns’ considerable resources to build a proper offense around him. At the same time for a GM the quarterback position is also like the head coach. Often success won’t be found until he’s able to get “his” guys. It’s possible Dorsey will try to make it work with Kizer and Hue Jackson, but the odds aren’t in their favor.
His opportunity to fix the first problem might be too good to pass up. Cleveland has money. They have a treasure trove of picks. He could probably squeeze a decent return for Kizer to a team that might like his traits. A place like Arizona springs to mind. Unloading him to a more advantageous place would alleviate any QB controversy and allow Dorsey to move forward with somebody of his own.