Josh Rosen will replace Sam Bradford as Cardinals starting QB, team announces

Senior writer

Mon, Sep 24, 2018, 10:06 PM

Hey, remember when all those teams with first-round rookies at quarterback were going to be patient and not throw them into the starting job?

It’s not October yet and most of the quarterbacks picked in the first round last spring are the starting quarterbacks for their respective teams. Sam Darnold got the job Week 1, Josh Allen was Week 2, and both Baker Mayfield and Josh Rosen were announced as their team’s Week 4 starters on Monday.

Rosen replaced utterly ineffective Sam Bradford in the final minutes of the Arizona Cardinals’ Week 3 loss to the Chicago Bears. Although Rosen couldn’t pull off a comeback win, he was put in a terrible position by his coaches and they understood that Bradford couldn’t start again this week for an 0-3 team.

Cardinals coach Steve Wilks announced Rosen is the team’s new starter on Monday.

Josh Rosen should have been starting sooner

The way the Cardinals have handled the Rosen situation has been odd.

Arizona wanted Bradford to start the season, after overpaying him in free agency. It’s not too crazy to want to start the season with a veteran, even as one as shaky as Bradford has been. But, rookies drafted in the top 10, as Rosen was, don’t often sit long. Also, Rosen was considered by many the most pro-ready prospect in the class.

Bradford was a disappointment, which shouldn’t have been a huge surprise. He struggled in Week 1. He struggled more in Week 2. Wilks said he never considered pulling Bradford for Rosen in that game, which was weird.

In Week 3, after the Cardinals had blown a big lead to the Chicago Bears, Wilks did pull Bradford for Rosen. Asking the rookie to pull off a last-minute game-winning drive in his debut against a tough Bears defense was fairly crazy, but Bradford had already turned it over three times and looked poor for the third straight week.

At least the Cardinals finally made the right decision on Monday, even if they took an odd path to get there.

Rookie QBs have already had success

Decades ago, rookie quarterbacks had to sit and learn. The game has changed a lot, and that plan is from a long-ago era.

Nothing will be perfect with a rookie quarterback, but it makes no sense to start a Bradford, Tyrod Taylor or Nathan Peterman just because rookie quarterbacks used to sit 20 or 30 years ago. Mayfield looked great in Week 3 when the Cleveland Browns were forced to play him due to Taylor’s injury. Mayfield will start Week 4. Darnold has had good moments including leading a Week 1 win for the Jets against a Lions team that was good enough to beat the Patriots on Sunday night. Allen made some key plays in the Buffalo Bills’ massive upset over the Vikings on Sunday. Lamar Jackson, the final first-round pick of this year’s draft, is the only rookie to not start yet, and he has established veteran Joe Flacco ahead of him.

Rosen will give the Cardinals a shot in the arm too. They needed it, after Bradford struggled so badly over the first three games of the season.