Written by Ryan Wilson at CBSSports.com
You know the NFL Draft is nigh when the anonymous critics redouble their efforts. And here we are. With the offseason spectacle just days away, an unnamed scout has weighed in on one of the draft’s top quarterback prospects, former Notre Dame standout DeShone Kizer.
“He’s a pure millennial,” the scout told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel‘s Bob McGinn. “He’s caught up in being more of a quarterback image than being a quarterback. If he goes to the right spot with the right coach, he’ll ascend. They’re going to have to get him to focus on football. I honestly think this guy would do better in a small market. If he goes to a big market he’ll enjoy everything else that comes with the position. The one position in the building you don’t want to worry about whether he’s going to be focused on football is quarterback.”
To be fair, every draft-eligible player is a millennial because they were born in the mid-1990s. Semantics aside, the general on-field knock on Kizer is that he struggles with consistency and there are concerns on how that will translate to the NFL. CBSSports.com’s Rob Rang ranks Kizer No. 3 among quarterbacks, behind UNC’s Mitchell Trubisky and Clemson’s Deshaun Watson, both of whom could be among the top-10 picks.
Who knows if Kizer, as the anonymous scout suggested, would indeed benefit from playing in a small market. You could probably make that argument for a lot of players. Either way, perhaps a small market is in his future. Several weeks ago, while talking about the quarterback class — and specifically how Trubisky’s one year as a starter in college was problematic — Cardinals coach Bruce Arians, without naming names, hinted that only one quarterback is ready to start as a rookie.
“All the rest, there are some really talented arms that need a year of learning how to play the position especially at this level,” he said. “If you’re plug-and-play then this draft is very small, but if you have time to bring them along, then this draft is large because the talent level is there.”
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