Rosen embraces 'legitimate adversity' after trade to Dolphins
Josh Rosen admits the trade that sent him packing from the Arizona Cardinals left him disappointed, but the second-year quarterback isn't seeking anybody's pity.
"I'm fine," he told The MMQB's Robert Klemko. "It's not like I'm some child soldier in Darfur. I've had it pretty good. I think it's time I had some legitimate adversity handed to me."
Rosen was dealt to the Miami Dolphins on Friday after the Cardinals selected his replacement, Kyler Murray, first overall at the NFL draft Thursday. A year ago, Arizona traded up to pick Rosen at No. 10 with confidence that he'd blossom into a franchise quarterback.
His rookie season didn't go according to plan, however. Rosen struggled statistically, received a new offensive coordinator midseason, and faced criticism over perceived character flaws.
"I don't think you can go back to any team I ever played on and find someone who will say I was a bad teammate," he said. "All my teammates throughout my entire career in football had my back. I loved them, they loved me. I've never been uncoachable. I've been tough to coach because I'm hypercompetitive and always get to the bottom of things. I can be a prickly personality at times, but none of it's ever malicious. I don't think anyone who really knows me on a deep level thinks I'm a bad guy. I like to think I'm a good guy."
A day after the Cardinals selected Murray, Rosen was verbally eviscerated on air by NFL Network analyst Steve Smith. The former receiver challenged Rosen to stay in Arizona and battle Murray for the starting job instead of angling for a trade.
Rosen, for what it's worth, told his agent on draft night he'd gladly stay in the desert.
"If that's their position then I'll just beat him out and Kyler can be the backup," Rosen responded after being informed by his agent the Cardinals weren't guaranteed to trade him.
Rosen was introduced Monday to the Miami media. He told reporters he's as motivated as ever to flourish with his new team and doesn't need any additional juice from the rocky start to his career.
"I don't think my chip's going to grow anymore; I might tip over," he said, according to Kevin Patra of NFL.com.
The 22-year-old will compete with veteran signal-caller Ryan Fitzpatrick for the Dolphins' starting job.
Copyright (C) 2019 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.