It’s been a rollercoaster of an offseason for Josh Rosen. His first head coach was fired, and his new coach Kliff Kingsbury initially re-committed to him. But ever since then momentum has shifted toward the Cardinals using the first overall pick on Kyler Murray, and looking to trade Rosen. Arizona hasn’t done much to tamp down speculation, and the current conventional wisdom is that the Cards will take Murray. The draft isn’t until April 25th, but current Cardinals players are due to report for offseason workouts on April 8th. When those workouts take place, don’t be surprised if Rosen isn’t there, argues Bob McManaman of The Arizona Republic.
McManaman writes that both Rosen and the team might not want him to report, for several reasons. McManaman notes that the Cardinals were eligible to start workouts this coming week, but pushed back the start of their offseason program by a week. Kingsbury said it was for scheduling purposes, but McManaman speculates that it could’ve been to give them more time to work out a Rosen trade. McManaman also argues that the team won’t want to have the free-speaking Rosen shoved in front of a gaggle of reporters right now, and that there’s always the risk of an injury. If Rosen does decide to no-show the workouts, it’ll add a whole lot of fuel to the rumors that he isn’t long for the desert.
Here’s more from around the NFC:
- Arizona’s division rival, the 49ers, also have an important draft ahead of them. The 49ers pick second overall, and the last we heard they were targeting Ohio State pass-rusher Nick Bosa. But the 49ers are also looking to add pass-catchers, and will soon host a pair of wideouts for visits. San Francisco will bring in South Carolina receiver Deebo Samuel and Ole Miss receiver A.J. Brown, sources told Matt Barrows of The Athletic. It sounds like the 49ers are still leaning Bosa at number two, assuming the Cardinals pass on him, but are looking to bring in a new weapon for Jimmy Garoppolo with one of their next picks.
- Speaking of the 49ers, we have an update on Kentavius Street. Street was a highly regarded prospect from NC State last year, but he tore his ACL at his pro day. San Francisco still thought highly enough of him to draft him in the fourth round, but he missed his entire rookie season. Street bulked up while he was sidelined with the injury, and coach Kyle Shanahan said from the owners meetings he’s been encouraged by his progress, according to Jennifer Lee Chan of NBC Sports. Shanahan said he could see Street playing both inside and outside, and he’s a good bet to make an impact as a sophomore.
- The Vikings signed guard Josh Kline last week to bolster their offensive line, and now we have details on the contract. The Vikings guaranteed Kline $7.25MM at signing, according to Ben Goessling of The Minneapolis Star-Tribune. Goessling reports that the Vikings now have less than $3MM in cap space, and will now need to make some maneuvers in order to be able to sign their draft class next month. The Vikings’ offensive line was a weak spot last year, and they’ll be counting on Kline to give them a boost. Kline received average marks from Pro Football Focus last year, grading out as their 50th-best guard.
It’s all smoke and mirrors. I hope Rosen shows up for workouts. I’m sure if you go back the past ten years, you’ll find articles very similar to this one for EVERY team with the number one pick.
I’m genuinely curious, what teams excluding the Browns have taken a QB in the first round then the following draft considered taking another one in the first?
The Cowboys with Aikman in the regular draft and Steve Walsh a first rounder in the supplemental draft come to mind…
So the Cowboys gave up their 1990 1st on Walsh and used their 89 pick on Aikman
The Browns didn’t do that.
You’re right! I just assumed since they’ve gone through so many it happened. Though they did go Weeden waited a year then went Johnny Manziel
It’s head coaches they replace every year.. Qb’s are every other year,,
So Baker has a year to implode w OBJ
didnt the panthers do that with cam and gabbert?
I think you’re thinking of Clausen and Cam, though Clausen was a 2nd round pick
Clausen was a #2 and horrible in 2010, Newton #1 overall in 2011.
The Jags drafted Gabbert, not the Panthers.
Could be a Kirk Cousins situation where they get what they can out of Kyler until his little boy body breaks down, then they have Rosen who they can franchise tag every year until they don’t want him anymore.
To blow your salary cap flexibility to sign the league’s 50th best Offensive Guard seems nutty. More practical to just draft an OG or two and/or sign some OGs as UDFA while maintaining what little cap flexibility you have available.
They are paying an average QB 30 million a year so they arent very bright to begin with
Average QB? What makes him average exactly?
Very very few o-linemen are ready for a full time gig in year one.
Part of the problem is coaching. No one understands OL play better than a former offensive linemen but the NFL has gotten away from hiring these guys as coaches. Dan Dierdorf is a Hall of Famer but nobody offered him a coaching position. He’s not a bad broadcaster but it still seems like his talents have been wasted.
The bigger problem is that the offenses taking over college football don’t require enough pro style blocking, so those schools don’t coach NFL-style OL play enough.
Before last year he graded out as a cusp top 20 guard. I think they’re hoping he can bounce back and at the very least he’s still better than Remmers.
The two previous seasons he was one of the 25 best guards in the NFL, and every single starter on the Titans’ OL graded out much worse in 2018 than 2017, so there was more going on than just a decline in Kline’s play. Meanwhile, while Kline gets $5.75 million in cash this season, his cap hit is under $3.1 mil.
The other free agent guards were either worse if they were under 30, over the last three years if not last year (Cann and Spain), or were better, but over 30, and Spielman doesn’t sign regular starters over 30 (Cassel was a back-up, Tom Johnson a rotational DT and Terence Newman was Zimmer’s “guy”).