Baker to meet with Jets, Blue
Unemployed coach Jim Mora Jr. has embarked upon the strangest sort of smear campaign against Josh Rosen that reveals more about the coach than his former prized pupil.
Mora, fired by UCLA after going 17-19 in the past three seasons, followed up his bizarre remarks last week that he’d draft USC’s Sam Darnold over the Bruins’ Rosen with the No. 1 overall pick with some more mixed messages.
It’s no secret in the NFL world that Mora has been critical of Rosen behind the scenes for the better part of a year. The outof-work coach’s decision to go public in the run-up to the NFL draft, however, is curious to say the least.
In one breath, Mora told MMQB over the weekend that “Josh, I think, without a doubt, is the No. 1 quarterback in the draft. He’s a franchise-changer. He’s got the ability to have an immediate impact. His arm talent, intelligence, and his ability to see the game and diagnose the game is rare. He’d come to the sidelines after a play and it was uncanny — he could right away say exactly why he made every decision.”
In the next breath, Mora offered that Rosen “needs to be challenged intellectually so he doesn’t get bored. He’s a millennial. He wants to know why. Millennials, once they know why, they’re good. Josh has a lot of interests in life. If you can hold his concentration level and focus only on football for a few years, he will set the world on fire. He has so much ability, and he’s a really good kid.”
Translation: Mora and his assistants weren’t smart enough to give Rosen the answers he craved. Rosen seemed to respond to Mora on Monday tweeting out “Why?” followed by the shrug emoji and the hashtag #why, which seemed to suggest he didn’t understand why his former coach continues to make him look bad in the press.
There are too many people in the football world threatened by a player with varied interests. Rosen, by all accounts, is an intelligent life form. I’m not talking about being just “football smart.” I’m talking about being a smart human being. Football lifers sometimes mistaken varied interests with diverted interests.
Rosen isn’t any less passionate about football because he actually has a functioning brain that extends beyond a playbook. If anything, his additional interests fuel his curiosity and hunger in his chosen profession. Yes, he wants to know why. The smart ones usually do.
The fact that Mora couldn’t always answer Rosen’s questions shouldn’t detract NFL teams from believing in the best actual Broadway Baker is coming to town. The Daily News has learned that Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield will make pre-draft visits to the Giants and Jets in the coming days.
The Giants, who have the No. 2 pick in the upcoming draft, will first roll out the blue carpet for the Heisman Trophy winner beginning this weekend, according to sources.
Mayfield will arrive in New Jersey on Sunday and spend time at Big Blue’s Quest Diagnostics quarterback in this draft class. Scouts have made it abundantly clear to me for the past year-anda-half that this kid has got the goods. He’s special even if he’s not waving pom-poms in plain sight. He’s a thinker. He has a mind of his own. The horror!
Listen to Mora’s words to the MMQB in July 2016 before Rosen’s sophomore year:
“His potential is unlimited,” Mora said at the time. “He would have been the best quarterback in the (2016) draft. There’s no question about his ability, only experience, and, at this point, maturity. He’s special. And he is smart, a leader and very well respected by his teammates. He works hard and gets it. Just needs to continue to grow and not think he’s arrived.”
There have been fair criticisms about Rosen’s maturity as Training Center on Monday.
He’ll continue his pre-draft tour with the Jets in Florham Park on April 9-10, according to sources. Gang Green’s brass held a private workout with Mayfield in Oklahoma on March 24.
Mayfield’s jam-packed April also includes visits with the Browns, Bills, Dolphins and Cardinals, according to MMQB.
The talented lightning-rod signal caller is part of a stellar quarterback draft class. — Mehta a younger player. The player will tell you himself that he made some questionable choices (see: hot tub time machine and “F--Trump” baseball cap) that have helped him grow. Put it this way: If Rosen’s biggest transgression as a college kid was importing a hot tub to his dorm room and blasting the current administration, he’ll be just fine.
From a purely football standpoint, Rosen makes all the sense in the world for the Jets because of the guy who will be spending more time with him than anyone else in the building.
Offensive coordinator Jeremy Bates would be the perfect teacher for Rosen. They have the exact same makeup. They’re both pretty damn smart football minds who love the sport.
Rosen’s football I.Q. and persona have drawn comparisons to Jay Cutler, who didn’t suffer fools as a younger player, either. Bates, who shared many of those personality traits as a younger coach, was one of the few people that got through to Cutler in Denver and Chicago.
Bates will be able to get the absolute best out of Rosen. It’s the absolute perfect fit. He’ll challenge Rosen intellectually like he’s never been challenged before in his football life.
Boredom won’t be an option.