BEREA, Ohio -- DeShone Kizer was well aware the Cleveland Browns came within a minute of completing a trade for Bengals backup quarterback A.J. McCarron.
Kizer took it as a challenge -- knowing full well that had McCarron joined the Browns, Kizer would have become the backup.
“It is just another way of letting me know that I need to step my game up,” Kizer said Wednesday.
Kizer will start Sunday in Detroit for the winless Browns, and he does so with eight games ahead of him to show he’s grown as the season has progressed.