Cody Kessler

Early years

Kessler attended Centennial High School in Bakersfield, California, and played for Centennial's football team. As a senior, he threw for 2,831 yards and 36 touchdowns. He was the California Gatorade Football Player of the Year. He was ranked as the second best pro-style quarterback recruit by Rivals.com. He was teammates with Jared Norris at Centennial High School. Following his senior season, Kessler played in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl.

2011 season

Kessler was redshirted for the 2011 season.

2012 season

In 2012, he was a backup to Matt Barkley. He completed two passes for nine yards in a game against Colorado.

2013

In 2013, he competed with Max Wittek for the starting quarterback job. He ended up winning the job from Wittek. His first pass touchdown came in the season opener against Hawaii to Nelson Agholor for 19-yards on August 29, 2013. He was 25-for-37 for 288 yards and a touchdown in a win over Stanford to receive Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week honors. Kessler led USC to a 10–4 record, finishing the year 7–2 under interim head coaches Ed Orgeron and Clay Helton. Kessler was 22-for-30 for 345 yards with a career-best four touchdowns in the 2013 Las Vegas Bowl rout over Fresno State, and received Most Valuable Player (MVP) honors. For the season he completed 236-of-361 passes for 2,968 yards, 20 touchdowns and seven interceptions.

2014

USC hired former USC assistant and University of Washington head coach Steve Sarkisian to replace interim head coach Ed Orgeron. Despite it being an open competition, Kessler beat out Max Browne and Jalen Greene for the quarterback spot. On August 30, 2014 Kessler threw for a career-high 394 yards and accounted for four total touchdowns against Fresno State, leading to his first of three designations as Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week. On October 18, Kessler accounted for seven touchdowns against Colorado, the most ever by a USC quarterback, leading to his second designation as Offensive Player of the week. In the final game of the regular season, he threw six touchdowns against rival Notre Dame, the most touchdowns thrown by a single quarterback against Notre Dame in the 127-year history of the program, leading one Los Angeles Times writer to label him a potential 2015 Heisman Trophy candidate. This achievement led to his third designation as Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week, tying him with Marcus Mariota for the most designations for the 2014 season. He finished the season completing 315 of 452 passes for 3,826 yards with 39 touchdowns and five interceptions.

2015

As a senior, he started all 14 games and completed 298-of-446 passes for 3,536 yards with 29 touchdowns and seven interceptions. He finished his career with 10,339 yards, 88 touchdowns and 19 interceptions.

Statistics

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Professional career

Kessler was drafted by the Cleveland Browns in the third round (93rd overall) pick of the 2016 NFL Draft.

On June 9, 2016, the Cleveland Browns signed Kessler to a four-year, $3.85 million contract with a signing bonus of $664,788.

Kessler began the 2016 season as the third-string quarterback behind Robert Griffin III and Josh McCown. He became the backup quarterback after Griffin suffered an injury during the season-opening loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. On September 25, 2016, Kessler made his first career start after McCown was injured the week prior. He finished his debut completing 21-of-33 attempts for 244 passing yards as the Browns lost to the Miami Dolphins in overtime 24–30. The following week, he earned his second consecutive start against the Washington Redskins and completed 21-of-40 pass attempts for 223 yards, one touchdown, and an interception. Kessler also fumbled twice, threw his first career touchdown on a nine-yard pass to Terrelle Pryor, and has his first career interception, intercepted by Josh Norman during the Brown's 32–20 loss.

On October 16, 2016, Kessler completed 26-of-41 pass attempts for a season-high 335 yards and two touchdowns during a 28–26 loss to the Tennessee Titans. The next game, he completed 9-of-11 pass attempts for 82 passing yards and suffered a concussion in the second quarter after Bengals' defensive tackle Domata Peko hit him during a pitch to tight end Gary Barnidge. The Browns went on to lose to the Cincinnati Bengals 31–17 and Kessler was replaced by fellow rookie Kevin Hogan. In Week 11, he made his eighth start of his rookie season against the Pittsburgh Steelers and finished the game with 7-of-14 attempts while throwing an interception. In the third quarter, while being tackled by Steeler's linebacker Ryan Shazier, Kessler suffered another concussion after he was hit by Steeler's inside linebacker Lawrence Timmons. McCown started in Kessler's place the following week and Robert Griffin III became the starting quarterback after returning from injury during Week 14. In Week 16 against the San Diego Chargers, Kessler completed 2-of-3 passes for 11 yards after entering the game with ten minutes left in the fourth quarter after an injury to Griffin III. The Browns beat the Chargers 20–17 to win their first game of the season.

Kessler finished his rookie season with 1,380 passing yards, six touchdowns, and two interceptions.

Kessler began the 2017 season as the third-string quarterback behind Kevin Hogan and starter Deshone Kizer.