The Cleveland Browns announced on Wednesday that DeShone Kizer will start in Saturday’s preseason game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Hue Jackson implied that the rookie could end up winning the quarterback battle altogether.
Jackson said in a statement that he is “very excited” to see what Kizer will do in a starting role. Perhaps more importantly, the head coach said Kizer is “positioning himself well to earn the starting quarterback job heading into the regular season.”
“ … he is certainly positioning himself well to earn the starting job.”
Full statement from Hue Jackson: pic.twitter.com/sZxcknpyzX
— Cleveland Browns (@Browns) August 23, 2017
Browns coaches have made it a point all offseason to say that Kizer still has a long way to go before he is ready to start at the NFL level, but Jackson’s comments on Wednesday indicate that is not the case. That probably has more to do with how uninspiring Brock Osweiler has been than anything else.
Jackson has reportedly sought the opinion of veterans on his team, and it was believed that he was leaning toward Osweiler based on what they told him. The third preseason game is typically the most important, so Kizer is being given a great opportunity to grab ahold of the job and not give it back.
