The 90 to 1 Green Bay Packers roster countdown: No. 28

The Green Bay Packers, and their 90 players on the roster, are in the midst of their first training camp under coach Matt LaFleur. In an annual tradition from my 11 years at Packer Report, I rank the players in order of importance from No. 90 to No. 1. This isn’t just a listing of the team’s best players. Our rankings take into account talent, importance of the position, depth at the position, salary and draft history. More than the ranking, we hope you learn something about each player. (Note: The start of this series can be found with my former employer.)

No. 28: QB DeShone Kizer ($914,856 cap)

While Aaron Rodgers started all 16 games last season, backup DeShone Kizer played extensively in Week 1 vs. Chicago and Week 17 vs. Detroit.

The results were anything but inspiring in projecting Kizer to be the backup again for this season. Against the Bears, he went 4-of-7 for 55 yards with one interception and one fumble. Against the Lions, he went 16-of-35 for 132 yards with one interception. Last season, 51 quarterbacks threw at least 40 passes. Kizer’s passer rating of 40.5 ranked 50th in that group.

Still, there’s a lot to like in Kizer’s game – which is why general manager Brian Gutekunst sent defensive back Damarious Randall to Cleveland to acquire Kizer before the 2018 draft. He’s big, strong, mobile, intelligent and possesses a live arm. He’s played a lot of football, including 15 starts with the Browns as a rookie second-round pick in 2017. Then again, he lost all 15 of those starts and played most of last year’s 31-0 shutout against the Lions.

“I think you get an early evaluation on the guy. But everybody comes in when you’re new, I think that’s the only way you can go about your business is everybody has a blank slate,” first-year coach Matt LaFleur said.

A second-round pick by Cleveland in 2017, Kizer is one of 48 quarterbacks with at least 200 passing attempts the past two seasons. Of that group, Kizer ranks 48th with a 58.9 passer rating, 47th with a 53.1 percent completion rate, 47th with a 2.1 percent touchdown rate, 48th with a 4.63 percent interception rate and 46th with 5.95 yards per attempt.

To be sure, he’s been challenged by the schematic merry-go-round of playing in one system at Notre Dame in 2016, one with Cleveland in 2017, one with Green Bay in 2018 and another with Green Bay in 2019.

“I think I’m able to play without thinking,” Kizer said early in camp. “OTAs were a really good time when we were able to get quite a bit of work in. This offense isn’t too far off of the offense we ran last year. It definitely has some West Coast roots, so we’re able to make some easy connections with the new verbiage and the old verbiage and the concepts. I think through that, I’ve been able to get some confidence in what the offense is trying to do. For the most part, I’d say 98 percent of time, I know exactly what’s going on and how to get to the ball to who I’m supposed to get it to.”

Good thing, because Kizer is smart enough to acknowledge that this is a performance-based business.

“Right now, it’s all about making sure that every time I step out on that field that I am giving 100-percent effort. There is no complacency,” Kizer said. “There is no ‘next year’ anymore. You grow up within sports really focusing in on development and understanding there’s a timeline that’s in place, so you don’t necessarily put as much pressure on yourself to get things done right away.

“Well, that timeline is starting to shrink for me in the sense that the lifespan of an average NFL athlete is three years. This is Year 2 for me. I’ve gone out there, I’ve put things on tape and now it's about making sure that from here on out everything that I put on tape really reflects who I know I can be.”

The key will be consistency. At one early practice, he threw a perfect deep strike to Equanimeous St. Brown. The next day, he missed Trevor Davis on another deep strike.

“That’s always what you’re striving for with all quarterbacks,” offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett said. “The great quarterbacks are the ones that are consistent every game, every play. He’s been in a couple systems now, and I think that once again, him just continuing to understand the system is the first battle he has to fight. Just being able to get in there and call the play, and then understand what he has to do from a protection standpoint to then the pass world. That will allow him to just relax and play calm. I think that’s kind of the thing. When you see him out there when he’s relaxed, playing tall and just executing the play, it’s good. Whenever there’s some indecision at times, sometimes he gets a little crazy, I think it’s just about trying to limit that and get him more comfortable within the system.”