With the Miami Dolphins at 3-11 and well out of playoff contention, there’s a reasonable expectation for the team to turn to 2020 and spend the last two weeks trying out some of their young players. But there is at least one prominent youngster who won’t be getting another audition — quarterback Josh Rosen.
The Dolphins traded for the second-year quarterback in the offseason, after the Arizona Cardinals moved on after drafting Kyler Murray No. 1 in the NFL draft. But after throwing one touchdown and five interceptions over three starts (six appearances), coach Brian Flores has apparently seen enough, and will stick with veteran Ryan Fitzpatrick down the stretch.
“We will always do what we feel is in the best interests of this team and play the guy that gives us the best chance to win; we feel that’s Ryan,” Flores said Monday, according to the Miami Herald. “It’s [been] that way for the last eight to 10 weeks.”
When asked if there was anything the organization could learn about Rosen over the final weeks, Flores was pretty blunt in his assessment.
“You can always get more information, but we have what we have [and that’s] practice reps and the game reps he had and his play for [Arizona] a year ago. The most important thing is what we see in practice on a weekly basis,” Flores said.
Translation: We already know he’s not our guy, and we won’t be changing our minds.
And so continues a sad fall for Rosen, who now seems destined to crash on two teams in as many years. It’s easy to forget that he was a top-10 pick less than two years ago, and was considered a blue-chip QB prospect in the 2018 class along with Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnold and Josh Allen. Lamar Jackson, taken at the end of the first round, has turned into the star of the group, with the MVP favorite leading the Ravens to a 12-2 record.
While those other players at least secured starting jobs with their respective teams, Rosen was out of Arizona after one season. The Cardinals sent him to Miami for second- and fifth-round draft picks.
Some thought that by getting out of Arizona, which had one of the worst offensive systems and lines in the NFL last year, he would show improvement. Miami wasn’t exactly a great situation either, but Rosen’s stats actually got worse; his passer rating fell from 66.7 to 52.0 and his completion percentage dropped from 55.2 to 53.2.
The journeyman Fitzpatrick has an 81.9 rating and is completing 61.6% of his passes while leading the Dolphins to all three of their wins.
It’s clear that Miami doesn’t view Rosen as part of their future. They could trade him, but any value he may have had is likely gone after having flopped on two separate teams. Their best-case scenario might be to keep him around as a low-cost backup to whatever QB they end up drafting or signing in 2020.
Either way, it can’t be what the 22-year-old imagined when he was a first-round pick last April.
