PFF grades Cardinals’ Josh Rosen 27th among starting quarterbacks

Thrown to the wolves during his rookie season and playing for the worst offense in the NFL by most metrics, Josh Rosen wouldn’t be expected to rate well against the rest of the league’s starting quarterbacks.

His raw numbers and the problems around him look unsightly, but Pro Football Focus’ grading system puts his first five starts of his career, plus seven passes thrown in his first game off the bench, in perspective. It grades him as the 27th-rated quarterback among the league’s current starters at the midway point of the year.

Rosen’s accuracy percentage — which adjusts completion percentage due to throwaways, spiked balls and drops — is a less-than-excellent 35th in the league. His clean-pocket grade is 33rd among all quarterbacks who qualify.

Still, Rosen is ahead of a few notable quarterbacks.

In descending order, he has graded out better than Miami’s Brock Osweiler, Chicago’s Mitchell Trubisky and New York Jets rookie Sam Darnold, who round out the list of 30 quarterbacks who have played significant snaps. San Francisco backup Nick Mullens and Buffalo backup Nathan Peterman, who are currently starters, have not played enough to qualify for inclusion.

By raw stats, Rosen has completed 56 percent of his passes for 1,072 yards, five touchdowns and six interceptions.

He’s averaging 179 yards per game and his passer rating (69.9) is only better than fellow rookies Darnold (68.3) and the Bills’ Josh Allen (61.8). Only Tampa Bay quarterback Jameis Winston (74.7) joins that trio with a passer rating under 80.

Again, the numbers so far come with the context of a struggling Cardinals offense around Rosen and one that could be on the verge of change with offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich having the bye week to build on the Week 8 win over the San Francisco 49ers.

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