The multiple issues involved in keeping Josh Rosen with the Miami Dolphins for now
Last week when the NFL Network reported the Miami Dolphins have fielded calls on quarterback Josh Rosen, the report was met with something of a shrug inside and outside the organization.
And that was interesting because normally such reports from the NFL’s own media arm stirs the pot a little in local markets. But this one didn’t because if you change the name Josh Rosen and replace it with about a handful of other Dolphins players’ names, the report would still be true.
Breaking: NFL teams call other NFL teams to inquire about the availability of players on each other’s roster.
So while Rosen has been the simmering subject of inquiries and conversations the past two months, nothing has obviously reached a boiling point of moving Rosen elsewhere as of this writing.
And that raises some issues to address:
▪ Issue one: How long before Rosen asks for a trade, if he hasn’t done so already? I mean, the guy has to realize his NFL future is not in Miami if he intends to ever be a franchise’s full-time starter, right?
The Dolphins are going into 2020 with Ryan Fitzpatrick as their incumbent and likely starter early in the season. But eventually the franchise reins will transfer to Tua Tagovailoa, the team’s first-round selection in the April draft.
That leaves very little opportunity for Rosen to drive the Dolphins’ chuck wagon anytime soon. Or ever.
In fact, only an odd and unexpected circumstance would open the door to Rosen as the starter in Miami.
So what’s he waiting for? He really should wake up and ask to go somewhere he can compete to be a starter, and seeing that’s not likely in most places, he would probably be a fit somewhere as a backup, where he can learn behind an established starter — somewhere like, say, Detroit.
Why?
Because he’s not going to get any such run in Miami. He’s not going to start in 2020 ahead of Fitzpatrick. He’s not going to start in 2021 ahead of Tagovailoa. He’s not assured of even being the backup either year.
If Rosen’s not asking for a trade, he’s either content having his career drive onto a dead end street or he’s not paying attention.
▪ Issue two: The Dolphins are under zero pressure to trade Rosen.
The Dolphins’ front office must love me writing public service announcements for them because it improves their stance in whatever future trade negotiations they ever undertake. But aside from getting general manager Chis Grier’s appreciation, the sentence has the added benefit of being true.
Rosen is scheduled to cost the Dolphins $2.17 million against their 2020 salary cap, which overthecap.com says is 1 percent of Miami’s cap. That’s a relative bargain for a former first-round pick.
So time is on Miami’s side here. The team doesn’t need to clear Rosen out to improve cap space or create a roster spot. There is no pressing trigger for the Dolphins to move Rosen now.
It might actually help the Dolphins to keep Rosen into training camp because the course of human events might improve his trade value. Perhaps Rosen plays really well in the preseason. Perhaps another team suffers an injury to one of its quarterbacks.
That might raise Rosen’s trade value and that would be the correct time to move him, if Miami wants.
▪ Issue three: The Dolphins need to get value for Rosen they probably cannot extract right now.
No team is currently going to offer Miami the second- and fifth-round picks they gave up for Rosen last year. No team would give up even a second-round pick, much less multiple picks including a No. 2, for Rosen.
In that regard, the Dolphins have a diminishing asset on their roster because Rosen was unable to unseat Fitzpatrick as the starter in 2019. Think about this: The New York Jets recently signed veteran Joe Flacco to be their backup — a position of need for that team.
So an NFL team decided acquiring a veteran who is coming off neck surgery and might miss the beginning of the season was a better option than contacting the Dolphins about Rosen.
(Maybe the fact former Dolphins coach Adam Gase didn’t like Rosen during his study of him in 2018 has something to do with that, too.)
A fair value for Rosen now? Maybe some team gives a sixth-round pick for him.
But that’s not great for the Dolphins. The Dolphins trading Rosen now for anything lower than a No. 2 is them admitting they got it wrong on the player during the 2019 draft. And my guess is Grier and coach Brian Flores are in no hurry to admit they got it wrong on their first young quarterback decision together.
So it might be good for Miami to let this play a bit. Perhaps time improves Rosen’s stock. Sitting behind Fitzpatrick with Tagovailoa on deck during the offseason certainly isn’t going to drop Rosen’s trade value much lower than it is currently anyway.
This story was originally published May 27, 2020 at 12:00 AM.
