Brian Flores has secret list of improvements Josh Rosen must make. This is obviously on that list.
Somewhere, perhaps only in the heads of Brian Flores and Josh Rosen, there’s a list of things the Miami Dolphins head coach has given the team’s backup quarterback he must improve on to earn the right to start someday.
This, by the way, is a top secret list.
“I’ve given him that list, for sure,” Flores said Wednesday. “I’m not giving you that list.”
And the reason Flores gives for not divulging the top secret list is because it came out of a private conversation with Rosen, and the coach doesn’t think it right to share publicly what he and his players discuss privately. I can understand that and we all have no recourse but to accept that.
But I think the real reason Flores doesn’t want to discuss what Rosen needs to improve on — something he has done multiple dozens of times concerning other players on his 2019 Miami Dolphins — is because that list probably includes at least one item that might embarrass the player.
And that is about leadership.
And personality.
And it factor.
And getting other guys in the locker room to ultimately play for Rosen like they buy into him, and believe in him. In other words, getting other offensive players to play for Rosen like they do for starter Ryan Fitzpatrick.
This item is definitely on the list. It must be on the list or this Dolphins coaching staff knows nothing about NFL quarterbacks. Because here I am a reporter, a mere outsider, who sees maybe two hours of interaction among players during the entire week aside from games, and I can see the difference in how players act and react around Fitzpatrick and Rosen.
And the difference leaked in October, anyway. It got blurted out when the Dolphins mounted a furious fourth-quarter comeback against the Washington Redskins that ultimately fell one point short in a 17-16 loss.
Rosen started that game for the Dolphins. And the team played as if in a coma throughout that game until Flores benched Rosen and put Fitzpatrick in the game. Fitzpatrick authored a 13-point fourth-quarter rally and fell a two-point conversion short of the win.
After that game the narrative was Fitzpatrick resurrected the Dolphins. And Fitzpatrick let this kind of slip: “Guys played hard for me,” he said.
He stopped right there. Didn’t say anything else about that.
But the sentiment was clear: Guys played hard for Fitzpatrick and had not for Rosen.
And that, plus guys having confidence -- really having it, not just telling reporters they have it -- in Rosen, and Rosen carrying himself like he’s got great confidence, and he’s one of them, and exuding an attitude like everything’s going to be alright, all falls under one general heading...
... Leadership.
Fitzpatrick has it in spades. The guy oozes leadership as easily as he sweats.
And Rosen mostly doesn’t. Rosen’s smart and has great arm talent, but he simply lacks that intangible something that makes other guys want to invest in him.
(And that plus his inexperience which affect his recognition of defenses, and ability to anticipate some throws while avoiding others combine to keep Rosen on the bench).
Sorry coach, if you don’t want to tell ‘em, but I will.
I can understand Flores not wanting to share all this stuff. Because maybe the Dolphins think they can still build Rosen up. Or perhaps they think they can build him up to trade him.
But it’s obvious to anyone who is even remotely connected to the team. And even Flores sometimes cannot help say it — before he catches himself and tries to recover, of course.
Remember in the preseason when a frustrated Flores complained about Rosen’s “body language?”
What was he speaking about if not the quarterback’s disposition and how it relates to teammates reading that body language?
Then on Wednesday, the coach said this:
“I think Josh has done a lot of good things in practice. He really has. He’s throwing the ball well, he’s making good decisions, he’s throwing with more accuracy,” Flores said.
“At the end of the day, Fitz has played well also, and he has a rapport with the team.”
Whoops, wait, alarms going off, danger, giving Armando too much insight, danger, must recover.
“Not that Josh doesn’t,” Flores quickly added. “Josh does as well, and he’s building from that standpoint.”
The funny thing here is even as Flores is trying to cover for Rosen, he’s telling you Rosen is building on an area that obviously needs improvement. Flores is so true to wanting a quarterback who leads that he cannot simply saying Rosen does it as he does for Fitzpatrick. He adds he’s “building from that standpoint,” which the Dolphins really want to see happen.
But there’s a problem here, folks:
No one knows if it’s possible to build leadership into a person. Because while it is possible to teach footwork, and recognition of defenses, and other things that help make a fine quarterback, leadership might just be one of those things a person either has.
Or has not.
There is no try.
It comes when one is born. Or it does not come at all.
At least I think so.
And Fitzpatrick, quite possibly the best leader at quarterback the Dolphins have had since Jay Fiedler, agrees.
“I think a lot of it is innate,” Fitzpatrick said. “I think it has to be genuine. Can you learn how to become a better leader? Yes. But if it’s not genuine, if it comes across as phony, if it comes across as rehearsed, then everyone in the locker room — we’re all grown men and interact with each other every day so it has to be genuine.
“It has to come from the right place. A lot of it is organic. It’s not ‘These are the three steps to leadership.’ ‘OK, I’m going to follow that and become a better leader.’ There are things certainly that I’ve learned throughout my career that have helped me a lot in watching different guys, but I think a lot of it is innate.”
Totally agree.
Leadership is a personality trait. And I know the Dolphins love Fitzpatrick’s personality and approach especially when it comes to his leadership. And I know they think Rosen doesn’t quite stack up in that regard.
That doesn’t make Rosen a bad guy. Or a failed NFL quarterback. It just makes him Ryan Fitzpatrick’s backup.
And now I present a scene from Dolphins camp on Wednesday: After the media’s 45-minute locker room session ended, reporters walked outside on their way back to a media room the team has placed as far from the facility as humanly possible, because we’re really terrible people.
And to get to that distant media room, one has to pass by the Dolphins lunch room.
And there, at one of the tables, was sitting right tackle Jesse Davis and left tackle J’Marcus Webb and left guard Michael Deiter. And in the middle of the group was Fitzpatrick.
All were eating together and smiling and clearly enjoying each other’s company.
“I just think simple things like sitting in the meal room and eating lunch with guys and getting to know guys, something as simple and as silly as that goes such a long way,” Fitzpatrick said. “In my mind, I’m not like ‘Oh, I’m going to sit with Dan Kilgore today because I want him to block better for me.’ That’s not it.
“I think a lot of it is understanding that you’re part of a team and understanding that no one position is better than any other, that we’re all important and we all have to work together, and it’s such a great team sport to get on the same page to succeed. I think knowing guys personally and getting to know them on that level goes a long way towards chemistry and transferring it onto the field. That’s something I’ve just always placed an importance on.”
Yeah, no wonder guys play hard for Fitzpatrick.
This story was originally published December 19, 2019 at 1:43 AM.
