Articles

By Craig J. Santucci | @NYGiantsRush

By Michael J Basile | @MdoubleJB

Josh Rosen was one of 4 big time prospects coming out of college in the 2018 NFL draft.  He was drafted by the Arizona Cardinals with the tenth pick. His NFL start was shrouded with obstacles, including a first time head coach who was promptly fired when the 2018 season ended. Rosen had very little help moving the franchize forward producing only 11 TD’s | 2278 yards and only 5.8 yards a pass. At the cross roads with his 2nd head coach in two years, the rumorville is swirling with trade talk.

A “down” quarterback year

2019 is led by Dwayne Haskins of Ohio State, Kyler Murray of Oklahoma, Drew Lock of Missouri, Daniel Jones of Duke, Will Grier of West Virginia, and a few others. In comparing Rosen to the top 2019 prospects, Rosen seems to have more to offer; however, it does depend on what you want to use as the benchmark.

Josh Rosen was highly recruited out of high school, and started for 3 years at UCLA.  He won the starting job as a “true freshman” and played in a spread/pro style offense under coach Jim Mora.  His scouting report highlights his cerebral style , pocket passing ability, and the ease at which the ball comes out of his hand. The Raiders GM and former NFLN analysts, Mike Mayock said “Josh Rosen is the best pure passer I’ve seen in several years. He’s accurate short, intermediate and deep”. He passed for 9341 yards | 59 TD’s over 30 games at UCLA.

The major weaknesses was that he was “too arrogant” or “too fragile” with his injury history (shoulder surgery and concussions).

Haskins and Murray:

The 2019 top prospects of Haskins and Murray burst on the scene once Justin Herbert announced he would return to Oregon. Both top prospects are one year starters, each with record breaking type years. Haskins threw for 50 TD’s and an amazing 4831 yards. When looking a bit deeper into his play one will find a dozen screen passes and check downs that went for TD’s. The blocking and backs need more credit here.

While Rosen spins the ball with ease. Haskins has a bit of a short arm toss without a follow through or wrist snap making the ball much less accurate. Rosen and Haskins are pocket passers with good footwork, and both read the defense well. Rosen never had a dominant Oline like Haskins and took some brutal shots resulting in concussions. Urban Meyer hasn’t produced a quality NFL QB, but in the right system Haskins will shine. He is very inexperienced. He needs two years to develop what one year of college football doesn’t teach.

Kyler Murray a transfer from Texas A&M is 69% passer is a bit undersized and getting too much love; however, is more athlete then QB. Rosen may stay in the pocket too long, where Murray likes to run, to the tune of 140 attempts. He flicks the ball with ease and can get the ball to the receiver when the lanes are clear.

The Rest of the Field:

The rest of this year’s prospects simply haven’t had quality opposition enough to stand out as “can’t miss” options. With inferior competition, Lock, Grier and Jones should have dominated the field, but didn’t. Lock is a four year starter in the SEC. His junior year (44 TD’s) was better than his senior year; however over his last two years (26 games) he threw for 7462 yards | 72 TDS.

Grier is much more “gutsy” with his play in the Big 12 and over two years at WV he threw for 7354 yards | 71 TDS. Jones on the other hand does not belong in this class and does not compare with Rosen. His numbers pale in comparison to any of the field. He never threw for over 3000 yards or 25 touchdowns in a season. Unless something held Jones back, he has not shown any “IT” factors.

With that said, flipping a 3rd round pick or even a 2nd for Rosen would be the right deal to make.  This way the Giants can use premium draft positions of 6 and 17 overall for immediate impact players on defense.