BEREA, Ohio -- DeShone Kizer conceded Monday that being spotted at a downtown Cleveland bar early Saturday morning caused a distraction the winless Browns do not need.
"When you become the centerpiece of a distraction for a week, it definitely is very frustrating on my part," Kizer said one day after the Browns lost for the seventh time in seven games this season. "That is not who I am. My mother wouldn't be proud of this. That is pretty much the biggest takeaway is do whatever you can to make sure that you are not a distraction."
Several videos of Kizer at the bar were posted on Snapchat, WKRK-FM in Cleveland reported. One was played on Tailgate 19 on WOIO in Cleveland before the game. The 11-second video merely showed Kizer, baseball cap on backward, talking while standing at the bar.
Coach Hue Jackson said he does not begrudge his players having a social life, as long as they are not breaking the law or violating team rules. However, he said that in this day and age they have to understand they always are targets for a social media appearance. He said stories like this are magnified with a losing team.
"I think everybody has to be careful, not just DeShone, not just the quarterback. I think all of our players do," Jackson said. "Just because I think those are the things that become headlines more so than what is really the issue [that] we have to play football better."
WKRK reported that with Kizer were wide receivers Kenny Britt and Corey Coleman and linebacker Christian Kirksey of the Browns, along with Kansas City Chiefs running back Kareem Hunt and tight end Travis Kelce -- both of whom are Cleveland natives. Britt and Coleman had been sent home from a road trip to Houston five days earlier after missing curfew.
Jackson said it was his understanding that a larger group went out to dinner in Cleveland and the smaller group stayed later.
"A couple of guys stuck around and have some conversations and now it turns into all of this," Jackson said. "I don't see any harm in that because guys are out and talking and having a little fun. I don't see anything wrong with that."
Kizer said simply being asked about what happened shows it is a distraction.
"With that, it is on me to make sure that, from here on out, I am not a distraction and I am only an asset to this team, not a guy that is pulling away from the ultimate goal," he said.
Meanwhile, Jackson said he will announce Wednesday who will start at quarterback when the Browns play the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday in London. Kizer has started six games and has thrown three touchdown passes and 11 interceptions. Cody Kessler replaced him during the Browns' most recent loss, to the Tennessee Titans.