The 2019 NFL Draft is just over a month away, and there is a plethora of young talent waiting to find new homes in each of the 32 NFL teams. It’s clear out of these 32 teams that the Arizona Cardinals need the most help in this year’s draft, and must find young guys who can help them move forward as a team. The media circus has been pushing the narrative for some time now that the Cardinals should trade quarterback Josh Rosen, and draft former University of Oklahoma Sooners quarterback Kyler Murray with the first pick in the NFL draft. In the NFL, narrative is an absolutely crucial aspect to the way decisions are made, which is why I’m going to personally push my own narrative that the media is wrong, and that the Cardinals should stick with Josh Rosen.
The Cardinals selected Josh Rosen with a top-10 pick in the 2018 draft with the expectation that he would elevate the Cardinals back into playoff contention, after a tough 8-8 season saw them miss the playoffs for the second straight season, along with the departure of former quarterback Carson Palmer. The Cardinals didn’t find much to celebrate about last season going 3-13 and finding themselves with the aforementioned first overall pick in this years draft.
Lately, the heat to potentially trade Rosen in favor of the 2018 Heisman Trophy winner in Murray has increased heavily, with everyone from NFL analyst Daniel Jeremiah to the popular sports podcast broadcaster Colin Cowherd heating up the speculation around a potential trade. If I’m in general manager Steve Keim’s shoes though, I wouldn’t shop around my quarterback entering his sophomore year for a few reasons.
The Cardinals originally drafted Rosen with the intent of helping the team win games, something that they would supposedly be trying to acquire Murray to do. However, the Cardinals threw Rosen into a very bad situation, and it looked pretty clear to anyone who has common sense. Before we talk about how the Cardinals ranked dead last in almost every offensive category last season, let’s discuss how the offensive line allowed 52 sacks in 16 games, 45 of them on Rosen. Granted, the Cardinals somehow managed to lose all of their original offensive line starters by December, and essentially had to rely on two practice squad players, two rookies, one being a seventh rounder and a backup free agent signing.
If I were Josh Rosen I’d be nervous dropping back to throw the ball 30 times a game myself. Even with the abysmal offensive line situation, Rosen was able to lead two game winning drives against the Green Bay Packers and San Francisco 49ers, so the Cardinals can essentially thank the leadership of Rosen for accounting for 2 of their 3 wins this season. If you threw Kyler Murray into the same situation, what guarantees do you have that the situation would be any better? If anything he’d more than likely rack up tons of mileage on his legs trying to save himself on blown plays, something that he’s particularly gifted at I’ll say, but I’m not confident he could manage to do it 52 times in an NFL season. It goes without saying that if an offense does not have a reliable offensive line, then the offense simply cannot function, especially in the NFC North where you have to deal with pass rushers such as Khalil Mack and Everson Griffen twice a year.
In the passing corps, Rosen’s options were not as talented as it could be, Larry Fitzgerald was his safety blanket throughout the season pulling in 69 receptions for 734 yards, and the next best option for him was Christian Kirk who played about as well as you’d expect a rookie receiver to play. David Johnson couldn’t live up to his ranking as the second best fantasy player in PPR leagues behind what? You guessed it, an incompetent offensive line. So after all of the glaring issues, or must I say issue, that plagued the Cardinals last season, it’s pretty clear that the Cardinals issue lies up front in the trenches, and that issue needs to be addressed in this years upcoming draft. Rosen displayed in college that he has the potential to thrive when you provide him with the right tools, and that shouldn’t be any different in the NFL.
I understand Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury is a huge fan of Murray and that he inherited this mess overnight, but what does that say to Rosen, and frankly any other quarterback that you may have to coach after him, if you trade him away without even giving him at least one season to prove himself? Klingsbury managed to take a three-star quarterback out of Whitehouse, Texas and turn him into one of the most dangerous gunslingers in the Big 12, that gunslinger being 2018 NFL MVP Patrick Mahomes, is cleary playing the best football of his life at the moment. Klingsbury also coached and played a big role in putting Case Keenum, Johnny ManzieI and Davis Webb in the NFL. Now tell me why he can’t take a talented pocket passer in Josh Rosen, and have the same success he’s had with previous quarterbacks from a coaching standpoint?
The Cardinals have a chance to shore up some positions of concern in this upcoming draft with 12 picks to their name, an offensive line option they have is Cody Ford out of Oklahoma, who is a big reason why Kyler Murray is the accomplished quarterback that he is today. He has the potential to play tackle and guard which would be extremely helpful for the Cardinals offensive line, and seems like the safest choice for an offensive lineman in the draft class. Or, if they want to add another weapon for Rosen to find in the open field, they could choose from the wide array of receiver talent such as D.K Metcalf, Marquise Brown or A.J Brown.
There’s plenty of talented offensive players in this years draft, and it’s up to the Cardinals to surround Rosen with them and let him lead the offense this season. Trying to fix a temporary problem with a temporary solution isn’t what the Cardinals need to do, they made a commitment to Josh Rosen last season by making him at top-10 draft pick last season, and he deserves a shot to lead the offense. The Cardinals need to rebuild the offense around him, and do everything they possibly can to give him a better chance of success in this upcoming season, and frankly there’s at least a moral obligation on their behalf to at least give him a chance to prove himself in this upcoming draft. The Cardinals would be better off ignoring the media speculation, and working towards providing Rosen with a situation in which he at least has a chance to thrive.
