Josh Rosen: The Quarterback Worth Getting Excited About

UCLA’s Josh Rosen is getting his fair share of hype, but is routinely ranked as the 3rd or 4th best quarterback in the 2018 NFL Draft class.

Pro-ready quarterbacks are a dying breed. Scouts journey into the wilderness in hopes of unearthing the crowned jewel that can save their jobs. Far and wide they may look, there simply aren’t enough signal callers with the necessary skill set to translate to prime time. Everything is a projection now.

However, a California kid with a big arm and bigger hype might be the prized savior teams have been searching for. Josh Rosen of UCLA has the accuracy, mental sharpness, and prototypical measurables to be a top-flight quarterback early in his career.

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Now, the caveat: It’s early. A year ago, Brad Kaaya was in the conversation as a potential top ten pick. I also don’t have access to All-22 film on college guys, which makes evaluation especially difficult for quarterbacks. It might be premature for quarterback-starved teams to start talking about the next “Suck For Luck” campaign. That being said, there’s a lot to like about this kid.

Mechanics

It all starts with fundamentals. You could teach a clinic on Rosen’s mechanics. Rosen rockets the ball with a tight, overhead release and consistently follows through in his delivery. There’s no wasted motion here. The young quarterback displays quiet, blade cutting feet and is proficient on 3,5, and 7 step drops. He works the pocket with live footwork here at 1:05 reminiscent of Peyton Manning.

The most impressive aspect of Rosen’s game is his use of body language to open throwing windows. Watch as he uses a subtly shoulder flick to bait the safety and clean up his throwing window to the outside at 6:55. That’s upper-level quarterbacking.

Above The Neck

The spread quarterback crisis dies with Rosen. This is one of the more cerebral quarterbacks to enter the league in the past half-decade. He lines up under center and from the gun, predominantly from empty and 3×1 sets. Rosen throws with natural anticipation to the outside. The UCLA star doesn’t hesitate for a moment, making lightening quick decisions when the ball grazes his fingertips. Because of this, he excels throwing on man-beating routes over the middle.

Athletic Ability

Physically, he’s everything a coach could ever ask for. Rosen has a slingshot arm and can launch ropes to all levels of the field without strain. He can flick the ball between safeties off platform with regularity. However, he needs to learn to take something off the ball sometimes. Rosen lacks the necessary touch throwing down the field and in the red zone. His ball placement is sublime when he’s afforded a clean pocket. Although he isn’t Cam Newton, he has enough athleticism to threaten outside on scrambles and bootlegs.

Bottom Line

This isn’t to say that Rosen is the evolutionary Andrew Luck. There are clear areas for improvement in his game. Rosen needs to play better with bodies around him. He doesn’t sense pressure as well as you’d like and his accuracy suffers when he’s in a phone booth. Additionally, the quarterback likes to lock onto receivers down the field and might play with too much confidence in his arm.

Look at this play at 3:24. In the red zone, Rosen gets frazzled by the rush and tosses and inexcusable interception. That won’t fly in the NFL. If he struggles to stay on the field again, the signal caller’s draft stock will take a hit.

“The Rosen One”, as he’s been called, has been billed as the next great thing since he first stepped foot on campus. The star quarterback has all of the traits that scouts do cartwheels over come springtime. Paired with the right offensive mind, there is every reason to believe he could develop into the next big thing.