He’s going to be a lock for a top 10 selection barring a development out of the Twilight Zone. What we don’t know at this point is who is likely to select former UCLA Football QB Josh Rosen in the 2018 NFL Draft.
With that in mind we here at Go Joe Bruin thought it would be interesting to see which teams he fits the best and where he can have both immediate and long term success.
Of course we need to set some ground rules. While Rosen being drafted by New England could mean the Patriots end up in the Super Bowl for the next 10 years, they’re in no position to select him and trading the entire draft away for him isn’t the Bill Belichick way. Nevermind that Belichick might not be long for New England anyway.
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So here are our rules to make our list.
- The team must be selecting in the top 10. While trades are possible, we will limit to trades inside the top 10 for a more realistic feel.
- The team must not have a firmly entrenched starter at QB. Yes there can be a returning starter but Tampa Bay obviously isn’t going to take Rosen with Jameis Winston still young.
- This is more of a personal belief on how teams should draft. Teams picking in the top portion of the draft should be looking for the best player available. Picking for need and reaching for players often lands teams right back in the top 10 in a few years. But when BPA and need combine that’s the sweet spot. So no, I’m not advocating for reaching, ignoring need or pretending to know the future. This is all for fun.
There are two teams that I personally believe would be a very poor fit for Rosen and they happen to be selecting first and third overall. The Cleveland Browns have both the first and the fourth pick in the 2018 draft. Analysts believe they need a QB but here’s my argument against that. The Browns took DeShone Kizer in the second round of the 2017 draft. Head coach Hue Jackson loved his upside but his roller coaster rookie season had fans clamoring for a change. Depending on which fans you listened to, there needs to be changes at both the QB and HC position.
In my opinion Kizer had enough ups to not throw in the towel just yet. Jackson has shown great ability as a playcaller but as a HC he is showing himself to be less than capable. For me, the Browns should focus on surrounding their young QB with more weapons and protection. They added David Njoku a highly athletic TE in the same draft class as Kizer and Josh Gordon is dynamic on the outside if he can stay out of trouble but the run game needs as much help as it can get and adding more pass catchers or an offensive lineman would go a lot farther than adding another young QB.
As for the Indianapolis Colts, if they’ve squandered Andrew Luck they should never be allowed to draft another QB in the first round again. A much simpler argument than the one against the Browns. Hey at least Cleveland has one win in 2018 already.
Now that we are past that rant, here are the top three fits for former UCLA Football QB Josh Rosen in the 2018 NFL Draft.