Why QB Josh Rosen Should Absolutely Be on Patriots' Radar

It's all fine and dandy that the New England Patriots have Cam Newton as their starting quarterback this year. But when looking past the 2020 season, their quarterback situation is quite murky.

Newton is on a one-year, prove-it deal with New England. And while the Patriots have reserved the right to franchise tag him next year if they wish to do so, there's no saying right now that they're willing to pay the franchise number for a 31-year-old quarterback next year, especially if he doesn't perform will enough to merit being franchise tagged.

That's why it's not too early for the Patriots to begin exploring their options at quarterback for 2021. And they can start by putting Miami Dolphins quarterback Josh Rosen on their radar, is he wasn't already.

As the 10th overall draft pick in 2018, Rosen started 13 games and racked up a 3-10 record on a struggling Cardinals team his rookie year. While there was plenty of promise shown by Rosen during his rookie season, Arizona didn't want to pass up the opportunity to draft Kyler Murray with the 1st overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft. Shortly after selecting Murray in the draft the Cardinals then traded Rosen to the Dolphins in exchange for a 2019 second-round pick (66th overall).

Rosen competed for the starting quarterback job in Miami last season, but Ryan Fitzpatrick outperformed Rosen, who racked up 567 yards, one touchdown and five interceptions along with a 53.2 completion percentage in six total games, three starts.

"Josh Rosen absolutely looks the part of an NFL stud quarterback and you can't help but be impressed when you just watch him throw the ball because it really zips out of his hand," Alain Poupart, Sports Illustrated's Dolphins Reporter, told PatriotMaven. He's got easily the best arm of any Miami Dolphins quarterback. Rosen, in fact, has all the physical attributes necessary to succeed, with good size and good mobility to go along with the arm strength.

"Where Rosen is lacking is in the intangibles of playing the quarterback position, namely reading defenses quickly and making quick decisions in the pocket. That's what got him in trouble when he was in game action last year and as a rookie with Arizona. The question with him is whether he'll ever be good enough in that aspect of the game to become successful. It hasn't helped that his offensive coordinator seemingly never sticks around, but this still is a skill many quarterbacks have mastered (or least developed) at this stage of their development."

The jury is still out on whether Rosen can succeed as a starting quarterback in the NFL. What we do know is that he certainly hasn't been put in a position to succeed in the NFL yet. Both the Cardinals and Dolphins finished with the worst and fifth-worst records, respectively, in the NFL in the years Rosen got to start under center for them.

That's why putting Rosen in a position to succeed could turn the former 10th overall pick's career around.

The Patriots are the team that should do that.

I know, I know. New England has Cam Newton. But in case you had forgotten, Newton is only signed through the 2020 season. In 2021 he will be a free agent, and although the Patriots reserved the right to franchise tag him if they feel he is worth keeping around, it's more likely than not that he will go elsewhere next offseason. So in 2021 the Patriots, again, will be left with Jarrett Stidham and Brian Hoyer as the quarterbacks on the roster, similar to what the quarterback room was going to look like this year before they signed Newton in late June.

Hip injury or no hip injury, Stidham didn't perform well this summer. On top of that, it was hard to fully evaluate Stidham for a good chunk of training camp because he was limited due to that hip injury. Because of that, it's safe to say New England's coaching staff still doesn't fully know if they have a starting-caliber quarterback in Stidham. Or they are taking the end result of the quarterback competition this summer as their answer, which may be why they opted to also keep veteran Brian Hoyer on the 53-man roster.

Either way, to prepare themselves next year and give themselves some young talent they can develop and evaluate this year in anticipation of next year's quarterback competition, the Patriots could bring in Josh Rosen.

Rosen was cut by the Dolphins on Sept. 4, which may have been more of an indication that Tua Tagovailoa is healthy than Rosen isn't a worthy quarterback to keep on the roster. However, it's also worth noting that Miami attempted to trade Rosen, but could not find a suitor. He must now make it through waivers first in order to become a free agent. But this brings along the opportunity for the Patriots to potentially sign Rosen to a multi-year, Patriot-friendly contract without the hurdle of having to give up a player or draft pick to get him. New England could also dangle the opportunity to be their starting quarterback next year as bait to convince Rosen to sign with them instead of singing with another organization.

"When you see Josh Rosen on the roster, even though I didn't necessarily know him, I knew of him. And I knew the amount of skills he had," said Patriots quarterbacks coach Jeff Fisch in 2018 of Rosen, who he coached at UCLA. "When you start getting on the field with him, you realize that his skillset is through the roof. The type of throws he can make, the velocity he can put on the ball, the way he can throw the football -- all of it was just incredible."

With $35 million in available cap space this year (according to Patriots cap expert Miguel Benzan), New England is seemingly setting themselves up to succeed in the future by carrying a majority of this year's cap space into next year. But it would be wise of them to also strike when the opportunity arises on a good value in free agency up until then. That's why adding a young, talented quarterback to the roster that can develop over the course of the year is not a bad idea. And Josh Rosen is a quarterback that fits that mold.

Depending on how the regular season roster shapes out, there may or may not be a spot already open for Rosen on the roster. But one way or another the Patriots should make a spot for the third-year quarterback, because it could benefit them significantly in the long run.

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