Quarterback carousel
Rosen options should Cardinals draft Murray
INDIANAPOLIS – The NFL Scouting Combine might eventually be remembered for adding rocket fuel to Kyler Murray’s draft resume while powering a rumor mill around current Cardinals quarterback Josh Rosen, a first-round pick himself just a year ago.
As speculation escalates about both young passers, it’s obvious to wonder what the Cards might do with Rosen if they intend to select Murray No. 1 overall. Surely they might seek something close to what they invested in the UCLA product — Arizona traded up from No. 15 overall to 10th in order to acquire him last year — but might have to grant a discount depending on the market and Rosen’s struggles (amid a checkered supporting cast) as a rookie.
“I don’t know how you can trade somebody you took with the 10th pick, even though it didn’t cost them a lot to move up to get him, for anything less than a first-round pick — after one year,” NFL Network draft analyst and former league scout Daniel Jeremiah said at the combine Saturday.
It’s worth noting Rosen would come with a team-friendly contract conducive to surrounding him with better players than he had in Arizona.
Here are seven clubs, in order of precedence, that appear like logical trade partners:
1. Washington: Before his awful leg injury, Alex Smith was a bridge to nowhere. Rosen, regarded in some circles as the best and most pro-ready passer entering the 2018 draft, could provide the answer under center for the future and present given the mystery clouding Smith’s recovery. The main question might be Arizona’s price point. Would Washington be willing to part with this year’s 15th overall pick for a player they could control contractually for five or six years? Or would the Redskins rather take their chances with a veteran like Ryan Tannehill or Teddy Bridgewater or draft options potentially including Drew Lock and Daniel Jones? Much to be unpacked in the nation’s capital, but the Rosen solution looms as a fairly compelling one for a franchise mired in quarterback no man’s land. Rosen for the 46th pick would seem like a nobrainer if Cards GM Steve Keim is amenable.
2. Miami: Tannehill appears like a dead man walking on South Beach. The brainy Rosen might intrigue a new regime with so much New England DNA and sure to put a premium on intelligence. The Fins currently pick 13th, just ahead of the Redskins and putting them in that Lock/Jones territory, too, yet have so many holes to fill and a new culture to build. If Arizona can’t wrangle a package that includes a first-rounder, Miami could be at a disadvantage against Washington, which has an extra third-round pick as possible trade bait.
3. New England: The Tom Brady succession plan currently seems non-existent. But older quarterbacks, including Peyton Manning and Brett Favre, have shown the inevitable decline can come swiftly and cruelly. Bill Belichick would theoretically like Rosen’s smarts and accuracy as baseline attributes for the guy who follows TB12. And with three picks in the first two rounds (32nd, 56th, 64th), New England has the ammo to bundle something together that works for Keim.
4. New York Giants: They need somebody to eventually replace Eli Manning, though it sounds as if the two-time Super Bowl MVP will open 2019 as the starter. The No. 6 pick, which might be earmarked for Ohio State quarterback Dwayne Haskins, seems far too rich for Rosen, especially if he’d sit behind Manning initially. But if GM Dave Gettleman could get a blue-chip defensive lineman with his first-rounder and maybe send No. 37 to the desert for Rosen, wouldn’t he have to strongly consider that deal if it winds up on his desk?
5. Denver: GM John Elway is entering Year 4 of the post-Peyton era. Joe Flacco is poised to become the Hall of Famer’s latest attempt to solve the quarterback equation, but can Elway really afford to stop throwing resources at the position given Flacco’s track record on either side of his magical 2012 playoff run? So how does this sound: Elway offers Keim the 41st overall pick but also makes him take Case Keenum’s contract in exchange for Rosen? Denver suddenly has two good quarterback options and offloads Keenum’s salary while Arizona winds up with a high pick and a decent fallback if Murray proves he’s not ready to start right away.
6. New Orleans: Taysom Hill is great in his Swiss Army Knife role. But if he’s really the long-term answer beyond Drew Brees, why the Teddy Bridgewater trade before last season? However, currency could be an impediment. New Orleans has a second-round pick but nothing else before Round 5.
7. Los Angeles Chargers: Philip Rivers, 37, is almost three years younger than Brees and more than four years Brady’s junior ... and also seems to have plenty of great football left judging by his 2018 season. But don’t dismiss this possibility entirely. Rivers currently has just a year on his contract, and stranger divorces have happened. (Man, he’d look great in a San Diego Fleet uniform, right?) Rosen’s L.A. ties could also be attractive to a franchise struggling to make serious inroads into the local fan base.