Josh Rosen works on scout team this week, shares views on how season has gone for him
This has been a banner week for most of the top quarterbacks selected in the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft.
Cleveland’s Baker Mayfield threw for 327 yards and three touchdowns in a win against the Dolphins. The Jets’ Sam Darnold threw for 315 yards and two touchdowns in a drubbing of Oakland.
Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson threw five touchdowns and ran for 95 yards in a Monday night dismantling of the Rams. And Buffalo’s Josh Allen threw for 231 yards and ran for 41 in a Thanksgiving victory at Dallas.
Josh Rosen, meanwhile, toils as a backup on one of the NFL’s weakest teams. This week, he was asked to do scout team work — which is sometimes handled by the backup and sometimes by a practice squad quarterback.
With five games left in the season, Ryan Fitzpatrick remains the starter and it’s unclear if Rosen will start another game for the Dolphins after three underwhelming starts earlier this season.
Would it be disappointing to Rosen if he doesn’t start another game?
“I don’t know,” he said Friday. “I am reserving judgment. It’s not really my call. Whatever they ask me to do, I’ll do.”
How would he assess this season?
“Not great,” he said. “Room for a lot of improvement, given the circumstances. What [coach] asks me to do, I’ll do. Next year is yet to be addressed.”
But something positive happened this week: Coach Brian Flores said Rosen did good work in practice playing the role of Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz.
“He had a good week,” Flores said. “He’s making progress, in early, studying, going through his practice plays, trying to get ball out quickly. [Practicing] in the Wentz role, that was good for him.”
The point about getting the ball out quickly is important, because that was one of Rosen’s downfalls during his brief stint as a starter earlier in the season. He was sacked 16 times in six appearances this season.
Rosen said it’s important “to get the ball out quickly in this league. They get to you really quickly. It’s always something I’m working on.”
Rosen said he usually goes against the first-team defense in practice and has been encouraged by his improvement.
“My grasp of our offense is getting better,” Rosen said. “I’m continuing to study. I’m finding all kinds of ways to improve, whether it’s scout team or in film room, watching our offense on the field.”
When he’s told to mirror the opposing quarterback on the Dolphins’ schedule that week, the assignment isn’t necessarily easy.
“I try to play my game for the most part and go through reads as we would, see how similar the play is to something in our offense,” Rosen said. “Maybe if a guy scrambles a little bit, I might pick a play or two through practice to scramble. For the most part, I try to throw to the open guy.”
Flores has been noncommittal about whether Rosen will start another game this season. He has one touchdown pass, five interceptions and a poor 52.0 passer rating while completing 53.2 percent of his passes.
NEWS NOTE
Receivers Albert Wilson and Allen Hurns practiced fully and are expected to play Sunday against visiting Philadelphia after being limited with injuries earlier in the week.
Defensive backs Ken Webster, Ken Crawley, Ryan Lewis and Steven Parker are questionable.
This story was originally published November 29, 2019 at 1:49 PM.
