Last week, fans voted on twitter between Clemson’s Deshaun Watson and Notre Dame’s DeShone Kizer for my next breakdown. It was close, but Kizer prevailed earning 52 percent of votes.
There is no question the Chicago Bears will be looking to address the quarterback position this offseason. Whether that is by trying to acquire New England Patriots’ backup Jimmy Garoppolo or through the draft. If the Bears do decide to draft a quarterback, Kizer could be their guy. Not saying that he is, but it could be a possibility. The redshirt sophomore is a gifted athlete, has an arm that can make every throw and is capable of making plays with his legs.
He ended the 2016 season with 2,925 yards on 212 of 361 passing attempts, completed 58.7 percent of his passes, threw for 26 touchdowns and had nine interceptions. He also ran for 474 yards and had eight touchdowns.
In the video below, I breakdown three games from Kizer’s 2016 season:
- His best game against Syracuse, where he threw for 471 yards on 23 of 35 passing attempts, threw three touchdowns and a rushing touchdown in a 50-33 win
- His worst game against Stanford, where he threw for 154 yards on 14 of 26 passing attempts, threw zero touchdowns and two interceptions in a 17-10 loss
- The last game, which was a good matchup against Texas, where he passed for 215 yards on 15 of 24 passing attempts, threw five touchdowns and had one rushing touchdown in a 50-47 loss in double overtime
Nick’s Quick Breakdown: DeShone Kizer – Quarterback (Notre Dame) https://t.co/gUqFvJ5FdU
— Da Bears Brothers (@DaBearsBros) February 7, 2017
After watching the video, take a look at these examples below that showcase his skillset and reinforce what I said.
Kizer knows he has his 6-foot-6 receiver one-on-one with the smaller defensive back and throws a back shoulder fade, where only his receiver can make a play on it.
On this play, Kizer sees the linebacker trailing his running back that runs a simple swing route. With a quick flick of the wrist, Kizer delivers the ball over the linebacker and into his running back’s hands.
On a 2nd and 21, Kizer recognizes that there is nobody covering the middle of the field and takes off. Kizer isn’t a quarterback who looks to run first, but if he sees an opening, he will exploit it and make first downs happen with his running ability.
Kizer does a lot of things well, but at times he can be inaccurate. On this play, he has plenty of time to set his feet and complete a pass on a hitch route. Instead, Kizer uses too much of his arm and sails the pass over his receiver’s hands.
Here is some context on this particular play. On the previous play, Kizer misses a wide open man on a deep out route, which forces this fourth-down play. The Stanford defense brings the pressure and Kizer lofts a ball in the middle of the field, overthrowing his receiver –Â leading to an interception.
Something that I noticed in the three games I watched was that Kizer will hang on to the ball for a long time. His offensive line does a great job of giving him time, but there were multiple instances where his indecisiveness led to some bad sacks.
Just like any NFL prospect, Kizer isn’t perfect, but there is no doubt he is a gifted athlete. Personally, I don’t believe he is a day one starter, but give him some time to develop in an NFL system and he can fix some of his issues. I believe he will go somewhere in the first round, but I have a feeling the Bears will pass on him.
Leave a Reply