Fit will be important for UCLA QB Josh Rosen
MONDAY: Wyoming's Josh Allen keeps analysts guessing to the end
TUESDAY: Oklahoma's Baker Mayfield has silenced the doubters all his life - can he do it in the NFL?
WEDNESDAY: Sam Darnold is a raw gamer that could have the most upside in the draft
THURSDAY: Lamar Jackson might be most intriguing storyline in draft
MORE NFL DRAFT: Farrell's final mock draft | Podcast | HS prospects weigh in on who should be No. 1
The national narrative on Josh Rosen is that he’s an egotistical, pompous millennial who acts like he knows more than his coaches.
The stories abound. At the Elite 11, Trent Dilfer made some comments about Rosen that were not exactly flattering. Stanford was Rosen’s dream school but the Cardinal never offered because the five-star quarterback from Bellflower (Calif.) St. John Bosco and Stanford coach David Shaw didn’t seem to get along that well.
Then during Rosen’s time at UCLA, he put an inflatable hot tub in his dorm room and wore a “F*** Trump” hat on one of Donald Trump’s golf courses in Los Angeles. Instead of being dismissed as college high jinks, under the microscope Rosen lives, it furthered the talking point that he’s a jerk.
It did not help Rosen’s cause - or reputation rehabilitation - when former UCLA coach Jim Mora said he would take USC’s Sam Darnold with the first pick in Thursday’s NFL Draft because of his “blue-collar, gritty attitude,” essentially saying Rosen wouldn’t be a good fit with the Cleveland Browns. Since those comments, Mora has heaped praise on Rosen.
For ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit, that’s not the Rosen he knows, nor the Rosen coaches and players talk about knowing from his time in Westwood.
“I’ve talked with a lot of people, I’ve spoken with Josh,” Herbstreit said. “I’ve never personally encountered that but I’m not in there during the nitty-gritty when the doors are closed. I’ve talked with folks on the staff that were under Jim Mora and I’ve heard guys say, ‘You just need to get to know him. You have to get to know his personality. I’ve never had an issue with him. He’s a guy I’d want on my team. You have to have fun with him.’
“I don’t think because of some of the things I’ve heard, he doesn’t love football. I take a step back. They came out with a recent article saying he doesn’t need football the way some other players do. People really misconstrued that. He was just making a case for he happens to be in a position financially with his family where he was just making a comment about that. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t love the game or want to be exceptional at the position. We’re going to uncover everything if you’re a GM or a coach or an owner looking for anything they can find that might prevent you from making a pick, I get that, especially when there are four or five other quarterbacks that are in this draft. Based on my experience being around him and watching his players interact with him, I don’t see what the national narrative is.
"I have personally not encountered that. I don’t want to sit here and five years later he becomes a handful and say, ‘Wow, I should have seen that.’ From what my experience has been and talking to a lot of people in that program, I’ve not seen a guy that’s a problem at all. I see a guy who his teammates believe in, they think he has the answers, they think he can make every throw, they think he can help the team win. At the end of the day, that’s all players really care about anyway.”
And that’s where there seems to be universal agreement of Rosen’s special ability. The top-ranked quarterback in the 2015 recruiting class, Rosen finished his Bruins’ career with 9,341 passing yards, 59 touchdowns and 26 picks in 30 games. He was not surrounded by elite talent, either, which makes some of those numbers pretty impressive.
NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock said Rosen is, “the most natural thrower in the draft,” but the one concern Mayock has is that Rosen has suffered injuries. ESPN analyst Louis Riddick said, “from a prototypical, pro-style quarterback, (Rosen) is the best one by far.”
“He’s smooth as silk in the pocket,” Riddick said. “Pre-snap, in the pocket, post-snap, how he moves defenders with his eyes, how he moves defenders with pump fakes, how he suddenly buys time in the pocket. I’m not comparing him to Tom Brady, I’m saying those are the things he survives with.
“He’s not the kind of guy who’s going to get out on the perimeter and be a dual run-pass threat but when you watch how he deals the football, he does it at a very high level which leads me to believe he has a very high football IQ."
Herbstreit called the USC-UCLA game last fall, a contest that pitted Rosen against Darnold, a preview of two surefire first-round NFL Draft picks. And Herbstreit saw what most people did that night - Rosen was better.
“I happened to call the SC-UCLA game late in the year when Rosen and Darnold went against each other and walked out of the stadium that night really impressed with Josh Rosen,” Herbstreit said.
“I agree with a lot of the analysts out there saying when everything is clean, meaning no pressure, pocket is clean, drops back, the kid is going to make the decision where to go with the ball, 9.5 or 10 times out of 10, he’s going to make the right read and an accurate throw. My one concern where he’s going to have to grow is when he gets pressure, he’s not quite as comfortable as some of these other guys at improvising. From watching the NFL, you get a lot of pressure and you have to be comfortable at getting out of the pocket and buying a little time and eventually making a good decision and make a good throw.”
That’s why Rivals.com National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell thinks it’s crucial Rosen gets drafted by the right team. Not because he’s a locker room menace or he’s not going to buy into a franchise. But meaning a decent offensive line to play behind is going to be critical to Rosen’s success, or failure.
“He’s not a mobile guy at all so you do have to worry if he goes to a team with a poor offensive line and he gets beat up,” Farrell said. “He will buy into a system, he will buy into a franchise, I don’t worry about any of that stuff.
“Physically, he’s the best quarterback in the draft. Mechanics are on point. Accuracy is excellent. He throws the nicest ball. He has a great chance to be successful. It’s going to be key which team picks him. If he goes to Denver, that’s great. If he goes to Cleveland, we could be talking about a big problem. Out of all the quarterbacks, it really depends which team picks him and how they develop him. He’s a guy who could be a superstar.”
