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UCLA Football: Do Jim Mora’s comments hurt Josh Rosen’s draft stock?

By Mike Regalado

PASADENA, CA - SEPTEMBER 03: Head coach Jim Mora of UCLA Bruins looks on during the first half of a game against the Texas A
PASADENA, CA - SEPTEMBER 03: Head coach Jim Mora of UCLA Bruins looks on during the first half of a game against the Texas A /
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Former UCLA football head coach Jim Mora gave his opinion about who the Cleveland Browns should choose with the no. 1 overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft and it wasn’t his former quarterback Josh Rosen, but rather his former crosstown rival, USC’s Sam Darnold.

As if his time as the head of the UCLA football program was not awkward already, former Bruin coach Jim Mora kicked it up a notch when he went on the NFL Network to talk about the upcoming NFL Draft and his response was pretty shocking when asked about who the Cleveland Browns should choose with the no. 1 overall pick.

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The upcoming draft will have one the best group of quarterbacks in several years, which includes UCLA’s Josh Rosen, who is arguably one of the best overall prospects entering the draft. It also includes the former QB from across town, USC’s Sam Darnold. Both are considered top choices amongst all QBs, which is saying quite a bit about their talent.

For the last year, talk has been rampant among experts about who will be the best QB in the draft as well as who will be selected first. The reason for choosing one player over another varies by personal belief. It also varies by personal experience, which is odd when it came to Mora giving his opinion about who Cleveland should pick between Rosen or Darnold, and his choice was one you wouldn’t expect.

"Because of fit, I would take Sam Darnold if I were the Cleveland Browns. I think that blue collar, gritty attitude, I think his teammates will love him, I think the city will love him. He’ll say the right things. He will come in and he will represent well. I think he kind of represents what Cleveland is. And if I was one of the New York teams, I would take Josh *snap* just like that. I think they will both be great in the pros."

Awkward, yes, but this could be seen from two different perspectives.

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First, with the relative belief that Cleveland is a blackhole for any football player to play for, there is the perspective that Mora could be swaying the Browns toward Darnold and thusly sending Rosen to a team that has a better internal structure, like the Giants or Jets.

But then there is the perspective that the coach who has best known Rosen for the last three years did not vouch for him, thusly giving him a black mark in the eyes of numerous NFL scouts and experts, amplifying the misconceptions about his attitude, injuries, negative relationship with teammates (pick your excuse) and was brushed aside in favor of the player that led the team across town, which does not help Rosen’s chances of being a favorable choice.

Whatever the reason, it is very awkward when a coach is not 100% behind the player that he developed, who then became one of the best players in college football last year. Even if Mora truly believed what he said, why give Darnold the edge? Why give little appreciation to Rosen and rattle off the positives of his rival? Why say anything other than, “they are both great quarterbacks”?

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So does this affect Rosen’s draft stock? It could, but only if NFL executives haven’t been paying attention. Rosen is (wait for it) the most NFL-ready quarterback in the draft and if a team does not want to choose him because of word of mouth, they will miss out on a once in a lifetime player.