The Houston Texans have an uncertain future at the quarterback position, and a former first round pick was just released. That released quarterback was Josh Rosen, and now the questions is: Why not give Rosen a chance in Houston?
The 2018 NFL Draft featured a quarterback class that saw five selected in the first round. Of those five, Josh Rosen was the fourth taken. The Arizona Cardinals took the UCLA Bruin with the 10th pick overall. It has not gone according to plan for Rosen in the NFL.
After a rough rookie season in Arizona, new head coach Kliff Kingsbury decided to move on from Rosen and take Kyler Murray with the first pick in the 2019 NFL Draft. The team traded Rosen to the Miami Dolphins for a second and fifth round pick. His next season in Miami would have even worse results.
After only three starts and injury issues in one season with the Dolphins, they also decided to draft a young quarterback to replace Rosen and move on. Though, “replace” is a loose term as Ryan Fitzpatrick started 13 games in 2019. The Dolphins took Tua Tagovailoa with the fifth pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, and released Rosen.
The California native spent the 2020 season on the San Francisco 49ers after they plucked him from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers practice squad. The 49ers recently traded up to select North Dakota State quarterback Trey Lance with the third pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, so once again Rosen was expendable.
There is a clear theme here with every stop for Rosen. Teams invest in what they believe is their next franchise quarterback and that leaves him as the odd man out as an unproven commodity they can easily part with. He is either a terrible quarterback or just has the worst luck in the world.
Houston Texans: Does Josh Rosen “focus on football” enough for NFL teams?
Most of the negative surrounding Rosen coming out of the draft had nothing to do with his ability to play football. His college head coach Jim Mora Jr. talked highly of his talent but said that a team would have to get him to “focus only on football”.
Rosen is a statue relative to the average NFL quarterback, running a 4.92 40-yard dash, but has never been surrounded by a good team where he can comfortably operate from the pocket. He is a much different quarterback than the current quarterbacks on the Houston Texans.
At this point, the former UCLA quarterback is probably looking for any team that will be open to having him around for more than a short stint. Tyrod Taylor and Davis Mills are likely locked in as the top two at the position for the Texans, but giving Rosen reps to battle with Jeff Driskel is a low-risk move for the rest of the preseason.
It’s likely that the NFL has passed Rosen by, but maybe the Houston Texans can get lucky giving him a chance. More likely they don’t even bother, and might be better off considering his lack of success in the league to this point.