When the Arizona Cardinals selected Josh Rosen with the tenth selection in the 2018 NFL Draft, the UCLA quarterback didn’t hold back when barking about the newly found chip on his shoulder. The fourth quarterback selected in the top ten, Rosen claimed the other teams in the mix made a mistake passing on the Torrance, California native.
Josh Rosen? More Like Josh Throwsen-terceptions.
The Cardinals, coached by first-year head coach and former defensive coordinator Steve Wilks, filled the quarterback’s room with mediocrity, signing Sam Bradford and Mike Glennon in the offseason. A team doomed from the very start, destined to fail, failed. Rosen didn’t make an appearance in the regular season until a Week 3 matchup against the Chicago Bears. Thrown to the wolves, Rosen couldn’t play miracle worker when he entered for the final two possessions.
Rosen finished the season with thirteen starts, eleven touchdowns, fourteen interceptions and only three victories. Not bad for a team filled with emptiness.
When the Cardinals opted to move in a different direction and dropped Steve Wilks, hope blossomed for Rosen. It was a chance at redemption and a new beginning. When Arizona elected to hire the recently fired and hired Kliff Kingsbury from (technically) USC, hope for said new beginning quickly faded. The Cardinals and Kingsbury possessed the #1 selection in the 2019 NFL Draft and zeroed in on Oklahoma QB Kyler Murray from the start.
With Rosen likely on the outside-looking-in of a competition in the desert, Kingsbury shipped the 2018 first-rounder to Miami.
Rosen started three games before Noted-Quarterback-Killer Ryan Fitzpatrick entered the scene and stole the QB1 role. In three starts in 2019, Rosen tossed one touchdown, but surrendered five interceptions en route to his benching. Once benched, the Dolphins, led by first-year head coach and former defensive coordinator (hmm… ring a bell) Brian Flores, wound up with the fifth selection in the 2020 NFL Draft. Miami and Flores selected Alabama QB Tua Tagovailoa, seemingly leaving Josh Rosen in the same situational limbo as the previous offseason.
Monstrosity of the Midway
That’s where the Chicago Bears come into play. A franchise desperate for a successful quarterback, the Bears find themselves stuck the mud with Mitch Trubisky and Nick Foles attempting to floor it. Nobody’s quite sure how Foles could perform once the football season commences, but the general consensus on Trubisky isn’t pretty. The second overall pick from four drafts ago isn’t performing up to the expectations of your typical #2.
Entering the third season under Matt Nagy as head coach, the cries from the fanbase for a half-decent quarterback seem louder than ever. Is Josh Rosen that? Maybe not. But what does Josh Rosen provide? Change and maybe a little hope along the way. Bears fans and the town’s grueling and die-hard media presence is over Trubisky-mania. 49 touchdowns and 29 interceptions has that effect on a fandom.
With the Bears looking to better their quarterback competition for 2020 and the future, and Miami seemingly moving on from Rosen, it might be the perfect storm for Chicago to swoop in here. The UCLA product is still on a rookie contract and hasn’t experienced playing on a successful squad since college.
Risk vs. Reward
The reward massively outweighs the risk. Maybe you uncover the abilities that pushed Rosen into the top ten in 2018. And if you can’t, he receives the Trubisky treatment; the franchise doesn’t pick up his fifth-year option and both sides move on after 2021. Maybe acquiring the 23 year old is grasping at straws. But the position of QB remains the largest, most apparent issue on the field in Chicago. Maybe a more respected vet like Cam Newton is a better answer to the never-ending question. There’s plenty of questions that require standard answers the Chicago front office can’t give us, but if Rosen is available and you’re open to the gamble, then spin the wheel and place some chips on #3 in teal.
