Of all the things that new Dolphins QB Josh Rosen has going for him, the one that sticks out the most is the fact that he’s one of the smartest players out there — and that’s one of the main reasons GM Chris Grier wanted him in Miami.
“He was always a guy that’s had a ton of talent,” Grier said. “He’s a smart guy, like everyone knows. He has arm talent. He can throw it. I think what everyone always liked about him was how cerebral he was as well. Again, it’s a young, talented guy at a premium position in this league.”
What makes the move somewhat strange is that presumably, the Dolphins were in a position to draft Rosen last year, and they allowed the Cardinals to trade up ahead of them to take Rosen away in the first place. Reports were also out that the Miami didn’t even like Rosen, so what changed between that year and this year that the Dolphins felt Rosen was suddenly worth investing in?
According to Grier, nothing.
“I wouldn’t say we didn’t like Rosen,” Grier said. “Again, working with different coaching staffs and what they’re looking for at the position. At that point, we were talking about a top-10 pick, and he just wasn’t in those top five or six guys we were comfortable taking at pick 11.”
Not much of an answer, but perhaps what is going unsaid is that the change that happened is that Adam Gase is no longer Miami’s head coach, and now Brian Flores is. Gase is known for not liking when players question him, and Rosen is rumored to ask a lot of questions about his the strategies put together by his coaches, which naturally would have rubbed Gase the wrong way.
But now Brian Flores is in charge of the Dolphins, and Grier made it clear that he was definitely involved in the decision to acquire the second-year QB.
“Very involved,” Grier said. “Like I said, this isn’t a one-man show. I know everyone is always like ‘Who does what?’ but it’s working in collaboration with Brian, the scouts, the coaching staff, the pro scouts. Everyone watched a lot of stuff. We talked and did a lot of background checks in terms of people in and around Arizona’s organization, UCLA’s staff that had him and we had the information on him last year too. Again, we felt comfortable for the value where he was and then added him to the roster.”
As it stands, Rosen is a low-risk, high-reward player who could potentially become Miami’s version of Tom Brady. At worst, they can try to get back some return on the investment in 2020 if he doesn’t do well.
