NFL Draft 2017: Survey Says Notre Dame’s DeShone Kizer Will Be Draft’s Biggest QB Bust

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel recently asked 16 NFL scouts to predict the biggest bust of the 2017 NFL Draft’s quarterback class.

“DeShone Kizer was the easy winner with nine votes,” wrote Bob McGinn, the NFL beat writer for the newspaper. “Patrick Mahomes drew two votes, Mitch Trubisky and Deshaun Watson each had one and one scout declined comment. Two of the executives indicated all five were equally risky.”

Kizer has negative momentum heading into the NFL Draft, which begins Thursday in Philadelphia. One AFC executive, who was not named, told the newspaper:

“He’s not as good as he should be because he’s not committed to the game. He’s committed to building a brand. He wants all the things that come with being a starting quarterback but doesn’t want to put in the work.”

An NFC executive, also anonymous, said Kizer was fixated on his own status and wealth, calling him a “thin-skinned” “prima donna.”

This impression is almost exactly opposite the one left with the beat writers who covered Kizer in his three years with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Fair or unfair, this reputation — combined with a so-so NFL Combine and Pro Day performance — has sunk Kizer on most mock draft boards.

I’ve found 78 mock drafts that have been released in the last seven days. Of those, 50 — or 64 percent — believe the 6-foot-4, 235 pound quarterback won’t be picked in the first round.

Overall, I’m looking at 242 mock drafts built by a range of individuals, from the well-known (Mel Kiper Jr.) to the practically anonymous (FullerMetrics’ Samuel Fuller). Of these, 139 analysts say Kizer will wait the entirety of Thursday in the waiting room. That’s 57 percent.

I realize DeShone Kizer has a lot more information than I do about teams’ interest in him. Regardless, I’m surprised he’s going to attend the NFL Draft.

I loved Brady Quinn. I’ll always be a fan of his. But I think it’s safe to say this was the most memorable event in his NFL career — waiting interminably long to get picked during the 2007 NFL Draft.

Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers suffered a similar fate two years prior.

“On the inside there was a lot of disappointment, embarrassment just thinking about, you know, the hard work I put in and the disappointment of it not paying off in my mind,” he said later. “At the time, I saw teams passing on me that I know I’d talked to and I thought were interested.”

Myles Jack went to the first night of last year’s draft — and left empty handed.

“It was, honestly, humiliating,” the UCLA linebacker told NFL Network’s Rich Eisen a week later. “It was embarrassing having to sit there, and afterwards walking out, having my girl to my left, my mom to my right, my grandmother to the right of her and having to look at them. It was a tough feeling. It wasn't a good night, truthfully."

I know Kizer grew up a Philadelphia Eagles fan, so the draft being held in the City of Brotherly Love probably has more meaning to him than it otherwise would.

But perhaps he should listen to Rodgers, Quinn and Jack, and acknowledge what the mock draft analysts are saying. Is he ready to have a camera in his face if team after team passes on him?