Kurt Warner: Rosen needs to prove he’s capable of starting early

The Arizona Cardinals have begun the final round of voluntary OTAs for veterans and rookies.

With a whole new coaching staff, and several new faces around the team, there’s a lot of intrigue surrounding the Cardinals.

Most notable is rookie quarterback Josh Rosen’s progress in the offense heading into mandatory minicamp starting next week.

Warner has been in Rosen’s position before, the young quarterback behind the established veteran. It’s a difficult position to prepare for, but it’s important to prove to coaches that the backup is capable and ready to go.

“It’s not easy for anybody. I don’t care where you’re at. You all have your good and down moments, but that’s what you want, you want to convince people. You want them to see you especially early in the game and say this isn’t too big for him,” said Kurt Warner on 98.7 FM Arizona’s Sports Station’s Doug & Wolf. 

For any new player, Warner says it’s important to prove to their teammates and coaches that the moment is never too big and to prove early on that he belongs.

“I think that’s the first step when you have a bunch of guys around you at the next level and the expectations are there is just convince them you belong early in the process,” said Warner. “Once you do that, now everyone can settle in and start to show who you are as a complete player.”

Rosen enters minicamp competing for time at quarterback against free agent signings Sam Bradford and Mike Glennon. Bradford is expected to have the inside track to the starting job, but a long injury history shows the importance of quality depth.

“Both of these guys (Bradford and Rosen) in watching them, I’m not worried about the physical part of things. I think they both can throw the football well enough. I would ask more about the mental side of things. Where are they in this offense? What are they saying? What are they seeing? What are they understanding?” said Warner.