Should the Green Bay Packers call on Josh Rosen?

Depending on the cost, taking a chance and making a trade for Josh Rosen might be worth looking into for the Green Bay Packers.

Prior to the 2018 NFL Draft, former UCLA quarterback Josh Rosen was held in high regard as one of the top quarterback prospects in that draft. And while Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnold, and Josh Allen were all selected before him, Rosen still went 10th overall to the Arizona Cardinals.

Unfortunately for Rosen, since then his NFL career hasn’t exactly gotten off to a very good start.

During his first season he would make 13 starts for the Cardinals and spent most of that time running for his life behind a struggling offensive line.

Ultimately, Arizona would go just 3-10 in his 13 starts as Rosen completed only 55 percent of his passes with 11 touchdowns and 14 interceptions.

While most young quarterbacks are given the opportunity to iron out some of those kinks early on, in a bit of a surprise, Rosen was traded to Miami as Arizona moved on to Kyler Murray. And once again it was another abysmal season for Rosen as he made three starts and six appearances while completing only 53 percent of his throws with just one touchdown and five interceptions.

Now, no one is going to argue that Rosen has looked anything like a starting NFL quarterback during his short career, but in fairness, he also hasn’t been a part of the best situations either. As I mentioned he ran for his life in Arizona with a head coach that was eventually fired. Meanwhile in Miami, they were trading away top talent for future draft picks.

So with the Dolphins likely taking a quarterback in this year’s draft and Rosen once again on the outside looking in, should the Green Bay Packers make a call to Miami and see what it would take to get Rosen to Titletown?

I think it’s at least worth a call and here is why: it’s a low risk move for the Green Bay Packers that could pay-off down the road.

Truthfully, if Rosen or Tim Boyle have to take significant snaps in 2020, the Packers are in trouble. But in trading for Rosen, the hope is that he could continue to develop and possibly turn into Rodgers’ eventual replacement.

Although I will certainly acknowledge that at this point, I’m not sure I’d bet much on that happening. However, don’t mistake his poor start for a lack of talent, as always there are multiple factors involved.

Given how Rodgers contract is structured, with the dead cap hit Green Bay would take from moving on from him, he is going to be a Packer for at least two more seasons and likely a third. In fact, he could still be a Packer four more years but Green Bay has an out in 2023 with minimal dead cap.

When it comes to Rosen, he still has two years left on his rookie deal – which is very cheap as it comes with cap hits of $2.08 million in 2020 and $2.9 million in 2021 – and has a team option for a third season.

So in theory, Rosen could be in Green Bay on a relatively cheap deal for what is likely the remainder of Rodgers’ contract.

Now I’ll admit there is some risk involved because at the end of those three years – assuming Green Bay picks up the team option – Rosen is a free agent and they will have to pay him to keep him in town.

And if all goes well over the next three seasons, Rosen hopefully doesn’t see much of, if any of the field with a healthy Rodgers who is still playing at a high-level. Meaning, the Packers could very well have to offer Rosen a new contract without him having seen much playing time during that span.

Having said all of that, in terms of what I would give up to bring him here, well not a whole lot.

In the first four or five rounds of the draft teams can still find some quality talent at that point. But in rounds six and seven, you’re really just swinging for the fences hoping to land a contributor. So if Miami is willing to move Rosen for a sixth or seventh round pick, I do think it’s worth considering.

As I highlighted above, it’s really been a rough start to Rosen’s career and even though being in Green Bay and sitting behind Rodgers would finally provide him with some stability and an excellent learning opportunity, obviously there’s no guarantee that it works out.

So by no means is this a move that has to be done and if Miami is asking for too much, then Green Bay just needs to walk away.

With that said, when it comes to a position as important as quarterback, if they want to take a chance and spend a sixth or seventh round pick – which they have four of this year – in order to get a former 10th overall draft pick who still is only 23-years-old, I really don’t see the harm in that.