The New England Patriots would be wise to acquire quarterback Josh Rosen in a trade with the Arizona Cardinals this off-season. It’s no secret that Rosen and the Patriots are an ideal fit. The Cardinals are reportedly considering to select Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray with the first pick in the 2019 draft. The Patriots, who need to plan for life without 41-year-old Tom Brady, should make a move for the soon-to-be-discarded Rosen.
Josh Rosen, New England Patriots Are A Good Match
Cardinals Struggled In 2018
The Cardinals selected Rosen with the 10th pick of the 2018 draft as their quarterback of the future. They paired him with a veteran signal caller in Sam Bradford to be his placeholder. The plan was for Rosen to sit back and learn on the bench until he was ready to take over.
However, the Cardinals did not provide Rosen with adequate tools to succeed. General manager Steve Keim assembled one of the worst rosters in professional football, especially on the offensive side of the ball. The offensive line was the worst unit in all of professional football and allowed 52 sacks. Arizona wide receivers also were less than spectacular, struggling with drops and getting separation. Combine this with a first-year head coach Steve Wilks and a mediocre offensive play-caller in Mike McCoy, the 2018 Cardinals were destined for disappointment.
Bradford lost the starting gig to Rosen after four weeks due to poor play. McCoy was fired mid-season after uninspired and antiquated play-calling led to the worst offense in the league in yards and points. Wilks was fired at the end of the season, looking like he was in way over his head the entire year. The Cardinals finished 3-13 as the worst team in football.
Hitting Reset And Dumping Rosen
While Rosen was hardly set up for any kind of success in Arizona during his rookie year, he did struggle mightily. His rookie stat line is exceptionally poor, throwing for 2,278 yards, 11 touchdowns, 14 interceptions, and a paltry 66.7 passer rating. Was Rosen as bad as his statistics say? Not exactly, especially when one considers his surroundings last year. Yet he still deserves some of the blame for Arizona’s struggles and he did not exactly show a lot of what made him special at UCLA.
He struggled with processing looks the defense was giving him post-snap and suffered from slow eyes. Rosen needed to commit to decisions and make plays but instead held the ball too long. At that point, that choice was no longer the right one. Rosen has fine footwork and is nimble on his feet, but not a scrambler by any means. Because of turnstiles in place of offensive linemen, Rosen had no chance to escape endless pressure.
After hiring new head coach Kliff Kingsbury at the start of the Cardinals off-season, it became more apparent that Kingsbury had his own ideas on who he wanted to build his team with. While we don’t know anything for sure regarding the situation, it seems as if Kingsbury was able to convince Cardinals brass that Murray is their guy, thus making Rosen expendable.
Kyler Murray is meeting with the Arizona Cardinals today on the Oklahoma campus, as @AaronWilson_NFL reported. Cardinals hold the No. 1 overall pick; let the speculation continue.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 19, 2019
Patriots Trade Makes Sense
The Patriots are fresh off a victory in Super Bowl LIII and are heading into 2019 with a quarterback that will be 42-years old at season’s start. Brady is the best that has ever played and is still performing at an exceptionally high level. Yet the Patriots have no contingency plan if Brady goes down, or for when the day comes more sooner than later that the Hall-of-Famer retires.
Enter Rosen.
The Patriots reportedly had some interest in the young passer leading up to last year’s draft but did not make a move for him. After trading away heir apparent Jimmy Garoppolo to the San Francisco 49ers last year, the Patriots have no quarterback of the future. Rosen would immediately change that. The 22-year-old is intelligent and will respond well to good coaching, which is in no short supply in Foxboro with offensive guru Josh McDaniels calling plays and head man Bill Belichick running the show. Rosen also could come relatively cheap.
With news the Cardinals are meeting with Kyler Murray today…
Any team acquiring Josh Rosen in a trade would be on the hook for three-years, $6.24M, both in cash paid and total cap hits for a potential starter/valuable backup.
Every team should at least make a call to Arizona.
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) March 19, 2019
Combine this with a potentially low asking price for Rosen, which may only be a second or third-round pick, it seems like a match made in heaven. Rosen could spend a year or two developing behind Brady in the most successful franchise in the NFL. At that point, he’d be ready to take over with a team that fits his skill set. He’s still an accurate passer with good mechanics, possessing excellent ball-placement skills.
How It Can Get Done
The Patriots have 12 picks in the 2019 draft, including two second-rounders and three third-rounders. If indeed Rosen is on the block, the Patriots have the most ammunition to make this move. The only potential roadblock would be if a quarterback-needy team offers more, like the Miami Dolphins or the New York Giants.
Adding intrigue to this entire situation is a report that contending teams are inquiring about Rosen to be their heir-apparent.
.@theherd: REPORT: Good Teams Contacting Cardinals About Josh Rosen https://t.co/HlYGBal0PA
— Fox Sports 1350 (@foxsports_1350) March 19, 2019
New England makes the most sense as the destination for Rosen, as it fits his skill-set of a pocket passer and gives the perfect time-frame for the young signal-caller to grow and develop. Plus, it gives the Cardinals more picks to surround Murray with protection and talent that they didn’t provide Rosen the year prior. It’s a win-win for both franchises.
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