Rosen’s slipping stock may be a matter of faith
Criticism of outspoken UCLA passer seen as coded anti-Semitism
Josh Rosen sat for an interview for an ESPN The Magazine cover story and was immediately confronted with the flaws that seemingly will undo him as an NFL quarterback, perceptions he cannot control.
“You’re a cocky, jerkish, overly opinionated rich kid who’s too smart and has too many outside interests for his own good,” ESPN senior writer Sam Alipour posed to the UCLA junior. That characterization stemmed from remarks made by former Bruins coach Jim Mora, who claimed Rosen would not “fit” in some NFL cities because of a lack of a “blue-collar, gritty attitude.”
Mora also said Rosen could be a “franchise-changer” but his mixed assessment — along with a strong pro day from Southern California’s Sam Darnold — sent Rosen slipping down most analysts’ mock drafts from the potential No. 1 overall pick to somewhere in the top 10. Some observers believe Mora’s critiques leaned on racist tropes.
“This is classic anti-Semitism,” ESPN personality Tony Kornheiser said on his podcast last week. “Absolutely classic anti-Semitism that says, ‘We don’t want this guy. This guy’s too smart.’ ”
“Wait a second,” Kornheiser continued. “Peyton Manning and Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers and Drew Brees, they’re really smart. Russell Wilson is really smart. There’s no such thing as too smart.”
Rosen’s mother is a former journalist and the great-greatgranddaughter of Joseph Wharton of Penn’s business school. His father is a renowned surgeon and was on former U.S. president Barack Obama’s shortlist to be named surgeon general.
“I come from a wealthy, affluent, educated family,” Rosen told Sports Illustrated in 2016. “I mean, not like get-a-Lambofor-my-16th-birthday wealthy, but like, affluent.”
He once golfed at a Trumpbranded course while wearing a bandana that read “F- Trump.” He brought an inflatable hot tub into his dorm room. The same day UCLA signed an apparel deal with Under Armour, he made headlines by complaining that college athletes couldn’t get a cut of the profits, something for which the university made him write a handwritten apology note.
“I have a superiority complex I need to get rid of,” he told SI.
And he is Jewish. He told SI he chose UCLA because there was a large Jewish community in Hollywood. He was bar-mitz- vahed at age 13. He embraced the nickname “Chosen Rosen” after a stellar freshman season in college. (He did, however, tell ESPN that he’s curious about religion and sometimes attends Catholic mass.)
Those facts matter, said former offensive lineman Geoff Schwartz. Nothing Mora said, or other talking heads have repeated, is untrue.
Schwartz said he didn’t think Mora’s remarks were anti-Semitic.
“That’s something I think my parents’ generation would say,” he said. Former quarterbacks Jay Fiedler and Sage Rosenfels, who also are Jewish, said they didn’t think Mora was derisive of Rosen’s faith, either.
“I think part of the narrative from Coach Mora, he did say Sam Darnold should be the No. 1 pick, and I think a lot of it is Coach Mora trying to position (Rosen) to a better situation,” Fiedler said, alluding to the notion that Cleveland, which holds the top draft choice, isn’t the most desirable spot for Rosen. “I
Mora, Rosenfels said, seemed to imply that intellectual curiosity and purpose-filled game planning — including asking the question, “Why?” — is somehow a bad thing.
“I think being a well-rounded person actually helps you be a good quarterback,” Rosenfels said. “If you’re so focused on just football only, I think you’re going to miss certain aspects of leadership that somebody who has interests in the world would pick up on.”
Still, it begs the question: Why is Rosen subject to these doubts rather than Darnold or Wyoming’s Josh Allen or Oklahoma’s Baker Mayfield or Louisville’s Lamar Jackson?
Kornheiser has a visceral answer — “anti-Semitism in its most blatant form,” he said — and likened the questions about Rosen to those flung at Black quarterbacks once (and sometimes still) perceived to lack the “discipline” to play the position.
Even this year, analysts have questioned whether Jackson, the 2016 Heisman Trophy winner, can make it in the NFL as a quarterback. It was reported that some teams asked Jackson to try out as a wide receiver.
Schwartz and Rosenfels have another idea. The last thing the league wants right now is another quarterback with broad off-field interests that could be controversial.
“For sort of the old guard of the NFL, they think you should just care about football,” Rosenfels said, “when that’s never been the case in NFL history.”
Said Schwartz: “The same thing was said about Johnny Manziel, and he’s very not Jewish.”