Cardinals’ trade for Josh Rosen one of most impactful of past year
Jan 30, 2019, 6:00 PM | Updated: Jan 31, 2019, 2:52 pm
(AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
(AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
Following the retirement of Carson Palmer and the lack of a clear-cut replacement, the 2018 NFL Draft was an ideal time for the Arizona Cardinals to draft a franchise quarterback.
The Cardinals did that and were aggressive in their pursuit of UCLA’s Josh Rosen, trading up five picks to the Oakland Raiders’ spot at No. 10 while giving up the No. 15 overall pick and their third round and fifth round picks.
ESPN’s Bill Barnwell on Wednesday graded the most impactful trades of the past calendar year and the Cardinals’ trade for Rosen came in at No. 21 on the list.
The trade received an overall impact grade of ‘C’ and several factors played into that, including Rosen’s lack of production as a rookie:
In Year 1, though, Rosen wasn’t an impact contributor. It seems fair to assign a huge chunk of the blame to an offensive line that was starting five backups by December.
The Raiders’ haul for rights to the No. 10 pick and Rosen wasn’t especially productive in 2018, either.
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Oakland selected offensive lineman Kolton Miller with the No. 15 pick and he had an “uneven” season, according to Barnwell.
The rest of the Raiders’ picks from the Cardinals were also less than impressive:
The 79th pick went to the Steelers for Martavis Bryant, which was a disastrous waste of a good pick. Oakland then traded 152 to the Ravens as part of the package to move up from 75 to 65, where it drafted fellow starting tackle Brandon Parker. Getting two starting linemen out of one trade is impressive, but Miller and Parker combined to allow 21.5 sacks in 2018, per Stats LLC.
Both teams should get a better read on the long-term success of the trade next season.
Rosen’s productivity should increase in 2019 under new head coach and offensive guru Kliff Kingsbury.
