On Thursday, I noted that Jimmy Garoppolo had joined rare company by beginning his career with a 5-0 start.  In the comments to that post, Mark Growcott commented that Browns rookie Deshone Kizer has begun his career with an 0-13 start.  Cleveland, of course, is 0-14 (Kevin Hogan started one game), with Kizer undoubtedly playing a large role in those failures. It may not be his fault per se — i.e., one could argue he’s too green to even be playing — but his production has been abysmal. He’s averaging 3.50 ANY/A this season, easily the lowest in the NFL.

Mark wanted to know if that was the worst losing streak to begin a career. The answer is… yes! Jack Trudeau like Kizer, was a mid-second round pick. Trudeau played at Illinois and was drafted by the Colts in 1986.  Indianapolis was not very good back then, and neither was Trudeau, who went 0-11 as a starter during his rookie season.  In 1987, Trudeau lost the team’s first game, but then after the players’ strike ended, he came back and helped the Colts beat the Patriots in late October for the first win of his career. Trudeau set the record by losing his first 12 starts, until Kizer broke that mark on Sunday with a loss to the Ravens.

Kizer is one of just 9 quarterbacks to begin his career with an 0-10 record or worse. Jack Trudeau was the only one to start 0-12, while Troy Aikman and Stan Gelbaugh both had 0-10 starts.

Derek Carr began his career with an 0-10 start just four seasons ago. So too did Brodie Croyle, Harry Gilmer, Zach Mettenberger, and Warren Moon. Rick Norton, Dan Orlovsky, and Norm Snead began their careers with 0-9 starts.

Cleveland is 0-14 for a lot of reasons, but as you can suspect, much of it can come down to the team’s passing offense and passing defense. In just one of 14 games this season have the Browns won the ANY/A battle against their opponent:

I don’t know how long Kizer will continue his losing streak, and it’s certainly not all his fault. But fair or not, he now holds the record for longest losing streak to begin a career.