Rosen puts anger behind him

When the Arizona Cardinals made their move for a potential franchise quarterback Thursday, trading up five spots in the first round to select UCLA’s Josh Rosen with the 10th pick overall, Rosen was left unhappy that he wasn’t drafted higher.

“I thought I should have been picked at one, two or three,” he said in a conference call. “... I was really, really angry.”

As to why he fell, “I don’t know and I don’t care,” he said. “It’s behind me. I’m an Arizona Cardinal now, and I hope I will be for many, many years to come.”

Rosen, who had a standout career in college but was hampered by injuries, was the last of the so-called “big four” quarterbacks chosen. Baker Mayfield went No. 1 to Cleveland, Sam Darnold No. 3 to the New York Jets and Josh Allen No. 7 to Buffalo.

On Friday after joining the team, Rosen acknowledged it’s heady stuff being anointed a team’s franchise quarterback of the future.

“It’s pretty daunting,” Rosen said. “The biggest thing is knowing that I have careers on my back. I have families, I have kids, and if I don’t play well Josh Rosen celebrates with fans after the Cardinals traded up to select the UCLA quarterback with the 10th pick of the draft Thursday night. and I don’t pan out, people have to get new jobs. People get fired and things happen, so you’ve got a lot on your shoulders.”

The biggest misperception he’d like to clear up, he said, is that he lacks sufficient love for the game.

“Throughout the scouting process, you had to come up with answers to try and convince people you love the game and stuff,” he said. “I’m lucky now. I got picked. I can just show people. I can just come to work each day and show people over time. I don’t have to answer. I can actually just produce the proof in the pudding.”

But he said he now sees it as a lucky break.

“This is an unbelievable team that I think is really, really primed and set to do some incredible things in the future,” Rosen said, “and I think I just, very simply, lucked out.”

He will wear his usual No. 3, the same as his predecessor, the now-retired Carson Palmer.

Rosen will start out as backup to Sam

Bradford and maybe Mike Glennon. It will be his first experience as a reserve.

“My goals for the year are to accomplish whatever (offensive coordinator Mike) McCoy sets out for me as a quarterback,” he said. “Whatever he wants me to do, it’s team first. ... I’m going to compete my butt off every single day, but then again, I’m not going to be the guy that comes in and thinks he’s the man from Day 1. It’s a long process, and you’ve got to earn it.”