Arizona Cardinals Should Copy Carson Palmer’s Rookie Year For Josh Rosen
The best bet for the Arizona Cardinals is to let first-round QB Josh Rosen sit back and learn from Sam Bradford in 2018.
Even though ESPN’s Todd McShay and FS1’s Peter Schrager say Josh Rosen is “NFL ready”, the best move for the Arizona Cardinals is to be cautious. Like the Cincinnati Bengals did during Carson Palmer‘s rookie season in 2003, taking a year to sit and learn may be best thing for Rosen in 2018.
In Palmer’s situation, he had veteran Jon Kitna showing him the ropes his rookie year. Instead of being thrown to the wolves, he sat back, learned a lot, then blossomed when the coaching staff thought he was ready. Speaking with Arizona Sports in 2017, Palmer referred to Kitna as “the most instrumental individual” in his memorable career.
Rosen, the Cardinals’ first-round draft pick, has a similar mentor ahead of him in veteran Sam Bradford.
Signed by Arizona in the offseason for $20 million, Bradford is the perfect guy to lead the Cardinals right now — both on the field and in the quarterback room. An eight-year veteran with 80 regular season starts, Bradford can still play the position but can also handle the ups and downs of an NFL season. Having been through tough years before, he won’t break if the team’s projections come true.
Bradford is the bridge to Rosen just like Kitna was to Palmer and so on. Kitna, however, wasn’t a big-time prospect like the guy he was teaching. Bradford, on the other hand, knows exactly what sort of things Rosen is going through having been the first pick in the 2010 NFL Draft. That doesn’t happen in every case, so Rosen is truly lucky to be in the spot he’s in.
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As it stands, Bradford is the No.1 guy with Rosen right behind him. For the majority of the year, if not all of it, that’s how it should stay. Sometimes, it works out when you have your first-round pick start on a mediocre team. In this particular case, though, the Cardinals have one of the worst offensive lines in the league. There’s no sense to potentially hurting Rosen’s confidence (or body) when the playoffs aren’t likely. This season, as much as it stinks to say, is mostly a transition year.