Assessing Redskins quarterback options: Is Josh Rosen a franchise QB?

Dispelling Josh Rosen’s character concerns

Somewhere along the line in the 2018 draft process, personality comparisons between Aaron Rodgers and Josh Rosen morphed into phantom character concerns for the latter. Just as some had viewed Rodgers as the prickly compliment to Alex Smith in 2005, Rosen was rumored to be hard to work with, among other things.

That’s not to say that Rosen was always a perfectly agreeable character. He did do things that would rub some the wrong way. He wore a suggestive hat on a golf course to make a political statement, and he put a hot tub in his dorm room when he was a freshman in college. These are the kinds of things that can fuel the human habit of ‘thin slicing’, or taking one segment of experience of someone’s personality, and using it to determine their entire character mold.

Still, the rumors surrounding Rosen didn’t push him far down the draft board. He was selected with the No. 10 overall pick by the Arizona Cardinals, who traded a third and fifth-round pick to get him. He then added more kindling to the fire burning his reputation, saying that he’d prove there were nine mistakes picked before him.

The comment, without context, raises red flags. But Rosen has never apologized for his confidence, and he’s never put himself in a position where that confidence isn’t warranted. The chip on the shoulder isn’t just a saying for Rosen; it’s a part of his uniform. He wears that chip all the time. It comes from being second place to so many others, only to prove he belongs in the conversation for the top spot time and time again. Rosen knows what he’s capable of, and he doesn’t apologize for that.

But what does Rosen apologize for? The mistakes he made in his youth; mistakes of the same nature of every other college student (Trust me, I’ve learned from recent experience). The hot tub incident. And the hat. Rosen, in an interview with Rich Eisen, was candid about his growth over his time at UCLA, and he shed some light on his thought process, both on and off the field. The video is below, from about a year ago. It’s a watch that’s worth your time, particularly the first eight or nine minutes.

Josh Rosen is a human being, of the same depth and uniqueness of all others. Some may foster disagreements with his occasional political statements, or make assumptions based on brash, youthful decisions. Such samples of Rosen dissuade many from digging deeper, to judge the merit of those samples, when basing evaluations of his character on them.

When one digs deeper, the aforementioned samples of Rosen’s character prove invalid. Rosen has grown since his early days at UCLA, just as every young college student grows over the course of their career. And there’s much more to the man than what meets the eye. While some rumors pegged Rosen as a head case, his very team mates, both at the college level and the professional level, struck down those sentiments. Here’s what former Cardinals kicker Phil Dawson said about Rosen, after Rosen consoled him following a missed game-winning field goal against Seattle, per Josh Weinfuss of ESPN.

"He had some very encouraging words. That’s pretty significant. But especially when you consider that it’s a rookie quarterback making his first start with obviously a lot of issues on his plate, and for him to take time while processing his first game and a tough loss and all that kind of stuff, to go out of his way to encourage a teammate, especially one in my shoes, I think that speaks a lot for his leadership and just the character of the guy."

Other Cardinals team mates who raved about Rosen’s character in the linked article include Larry Fitzgerald, Justin Pugh, Christian Kirk, Chad Williams, and Jermaine Gresham. The article also mentioned a weekly film study that Josh Rosen led as a rookie, among other NFL players, once he was awarded the starting job.

Scott Quessenberry, Rosen’s college team mate at UCLA, was a bit more annoyed with the constant concerns surrounding Rosen’s character. In an NFL.com article by Nick Shook, written in March of last year, Quessenberry shared his thoughts on why the perception of Rosen was wrong.

"I don’t know where it comes from. It drives me insane. I have a really good relationship with Josh and he’ll tell you the same thing about me. We talk. For him to get the rap that he gets, I think it’s BS because of the type of guy he is and the type of stand-up human being that he is. The type of pro that he’s going to be. I don’t think he’s hard to get along with. I don’t know where that came from, I don’t know why that started. Is he opinionated? Yeah. Everyone’s got their own opinions. Does he believe in his opinions and will he waver on his opinions? No, but I don’t know when that’s ever been a bad thing. Everyone gets along with him, he gets along with everybody. No one in the world is going to see eye to eye on everything, so I don’t understand where that comes from. It drives me crazy. I can only imagine what it’s like for him."

No one can ever come across the full picture, when it comes to Rosen’s personality. But which medium of information carries more merit? Mere rumors, cooked up in the heat of draft season? Or words from his team mates, the very players who spent hours upon hours every day with Rosen?

What could it be like, for a person to be judged by so many who hardly know him? In time, Josh Rosen will get the opportunity to show more of who he is. And he’ll show so many why they were wrong.