Rosen needs a higher bar set
Through 16 career starts, quarterback simply isn’t cutting it
after Miami’s loss football.
On offense specifically, the offensive line has been terrible (23 sacks allowed), the run game is inept (league worst 3.2 yards per carry), and the team lacks playmakers at every skill position.
But that shouldn’t prevent us from getting a proper, and thorough evaluation of Rosen, who was making his 16th NFL start Sunday.
That’s a whole NFL regular season of games.
Rosen’s body of work so far this season shows he continues to struggle reading defenses, and is failing to execute the offense in a timely fashion.
So his poor numbers shouldn’t be blamed on drops or the offensive line.
Unless there’s some drastic turnaround, what we’re seeing from Rosen isn’t nearly good enough to bank on him as Miami’s starting quarterback of the future.
He’s on the verge of becoming this generation’s Brady Quinn, Jimmy Clausen, Matt Leinart and Jake Locker, another highly touted college quarterback who fizzled in the NFL as a starter.
“I think Josh [Rosen] has done a good job,” Flores said.
But there isn’t one aspect of the job where Rosen is performing at an adequate level in.
Rosen’s play so far this season makes former Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill look like a Pro Bowl talent.
Rosen’s completing 53% of his passes — decent quarterbacks complete better than 60%. There are 34 quarterbacks who have started a game this season that are completing better than 60 percent of their passes.
Rosen is averaging 5.2 yards per attempt. There are 36 quarterbacks who have started a game this season that are competing 6.0 yards per pass or better.
Rosen has been sacked 16 times in five games, of which he got mop-up minutes in the fourth quarter of two of those contests. Only five quarterbacks have been sacked more, and seven quarterbacks have thrown more interceptions (five) than Rosen this season.
There isn’t a quarterback who has started a game in 2019 who has a worse passer rating this season than Rosen (52.0). So exactly where has he done “a good job” like Flores claims?
An NFL starter can do what Fitzpatrick did on Sunday, almost leading his team back from an early deficit, producing two fourth-quarter scores in a hurryup situation.
That’s why the Dolphins need to hold Rosen to that standard now, and moving forward, raising the bar on our expectations for the 2018 first-round pick Miami used a second- and fifthround pick to acquire this offseason.