Rumors: Case Keenum could be included in potential Redskins package for Josh Rosen

Case Keenum was acquired to help in the quarterback room for the Washington Redskins. However, the latest rumors suggest he could potentially be included as a part of a trade package for Josh Rosen.

In the past week, the Josh Rosen to the Redskins rumors have continued to gain steam. With the Arizona Cardinals seeming likely to draft Kyler Murray with the first overall pick, the team is going to have to move on from Rosen, who was a top-10 pick last year. While many teams are in need of a young quarterback, none out there are quite as desperate as the Redskins.

With Alex Smith on the mend after a devastating leg injury last year, the ‘Skins lack talent at quarterback. They had only Colt McCoy on the roster before trading for Case Keenum earlier in the offseason. And while Keenum could be a nice stopgap, he is a veteran, and the team needs a passer with upside to eventually take over for Smith. Rosen could represent that hope, and that’s part of why the team is tied to him.

However, another interesting rumor coming out is surrounding Keenum. The Redskins did acquire him, but now, he is being mentioned as a potential part of the Rosen trade, per NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah.

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These dots had previously been connected by some, but they were thought to be just that. Connections. Potential ideas. Now, it seems possible that if Rosen gets moved to Washington, Keenum could land in the desert to serve as the backup to Murray.

Keenum as the experienced, veteran backup would be a sensible move in Arizona. He could mentor Murray, as Jeremiah mentioned, and may even be able to start at the beginning of the season if Murray isn’t quite ready for the NFL. That seems unlikely, given that Murray is probably going to be the No. 1 pick, but still, having an experienced veteran with a playoff win under his belt as a backup isn’t a bad thing.

And Keenum would certainly be an upgrade over their current backup, Brett Hundley, who hasn’t shown much at the NFL level.

Furthermore, it’s notable that the Redskins haven’t seemed to promote Keenum too much since acquiring him, unlike some of the other deals they have struck in recent years. So, that could be a telling sign. Or, it could just be part of a conspiracy theory surrounding these Rosen rumblings.

Of course, there is a major question surrounding the Keenum to Arizona rumor. If the Cardinals were that interested in acquiring Keenum, why did they get him themselves? They could have pulled off a similar deal to the one Washington did, a swap of late-round picks, and getting Keenum would have solidified the Cardinals’ backup quarterback position. Nobody would have viewed that move as having any relation to their plans with the top pick of the draft. So, it’s not like they would have tipped their hand. Teams probably would have viewed that as the team acquiring a veteran to compete with Hundley for the backup role.

We won’t know if there’s any truth to this rumor — or the rumor of Rosen coming to Washington — until a deal is done. For now, this certainly qualifies as an interesting theory, so we’ll keep an eye on it. Perhaps if the Redskins offer a second-round pick and Keenum for Rosen, the Cardinals will bite. But even still, a trade for Rosen is very far from a guarantee.