ARIZONA CARDINALS
PFT’s King lists Redskins and Giants as top suitors for QB Josh Rosen
Quarterback Josh Rosen reported to the Arizona Cardinals early on Monday for the beginning of offseason workouts.
What team he will report to after the 2019 NFL Draft on April 25 in Nashville is a different question.
Pro Football Talk’s Peter King wrote about potential landing spots for Rosen following his own latest mock draft, which had the Cardinals taking Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray as the No. 1 overall pick, and referred to the Cardinals selection as “a move Arizona has to make.”
It is unknown what the Cardinals will do with either the No. 1 pick or Rosen at this point, but it is always fun to forecast.
The teams King lists as potential destinations for Rosen include the Washington Redskins and New York Giants as the two top contenders for the second-year quarterback.
He also lists the Denver Broncos and Miami Dolphins as longshots with the Patriots and Chargers as pretenders.
Canvassing the league in recent days, I found two teams as favorites to acquire quarterback Josh Rosen, the 10th pick in the 2018 NFL Draft, if Arizona chooses to draft Kyler Murray and trade Rosen. I believe if this does happen, Washington is in the best position to do the deal.
The Redskins have three quarterbacks on the roster, including the injured Alex Smith, whose salary makes up more than 10 percent of the team’s total payroll. Rosen’s contract could be very appealing to the team considering his signing bonus from agreeing to his rookie contract with the Cardinals would not be included as a salary cap hit for Washington.
Rosen’s signing bonus of $10.8 million would be applied to the Cardinals salary cap and Washington could control Rosen for three years with a total $6.2 million cap hit and a fourth-year team option, compared to the $20 million cap hit taken by Alex Smith’s contract just for this season.
King notes that the Redskins hold four picks in the top 100 of the 2019 draft, which could be used as trade bait.
The Giants also have four picks in the top 100 and three picks in the top 40 compared to the Redskins, who have just one top-40 pick.
New York’s interest in Rosen centers around finding a replacement following Eli Manning’s eventual retirement.
Having Eli Manning for one more season would allow Rosen to learn behind a great preparer and very smart player.
Denver and Miami both have three picks in the top 100 and only one apiece in the top 40.
King notes that he doesn’t expect any team to give up better than a top-50 pick this close to the draft date for Rosen.
