HEADLINES

Poll: Should Giants Trade For Josh Rosen?

March 30th, 2019 at 3:27pm CST by Sam Robinson

NFL teams in need of a long-term answer at quarterback appear to have an interesting opportunity this offseason. One of 2018’s top quarterback prospects may well be available at a discount rate — both financially and in terms of draft capital — less than a year after being selected.

Nothing has cooled on the Cardinals-Kyler Murray front, leaving Josh Rosen as one of the more intriguing potential trade chips in memory. Kliff Kingsbury in February said Rosen would be the starting quarterback on his first Cardinals team, and while he has not officially changed his stance on this, the odds entering April of Rosen having a second opportunity with the Cards look longer than the likelihood of the UCLA product being traded.

The Giants loom as a possible landing spot. If/when Rosen becomes available, one of the teams that passed on him last year will be interested. Big Blue did not have a consensus on the top quarterback in last year’s draft, but with Eli Manning having recently turned 38 and Dave Gettleman having chosen Saquon Barkley over Sam Darnold 11 months ago, the prospect of a first-round quarterback talent being available at a lower rate has to be somewhat enticing — especially for a Giants team that has numerous needs on defense.

Gettleman traded both Jason Pierre-Paul, Olivier Vernon, Damon Harrison and Eli Apple in the past year and opted against placing the Giants’ franchise tag on Landon Collins. The team has a few surefire starters — Alec Ogletree, Jabrill Peppers, Janoris Jenkins, Dalvin Tomlinson, B.J. Hill — but is lacking talent elsewhere on its first unit. Both of the Giants’ first-round picks could go toward rebuilding their defense. They are not looking to package their Nos. 6 and 17 picks to move up, either.

None of this year’s group of passing prospects has wowed the Giants, who have been up and down on Dwayne Haskins. If Big Blue is dead-set on the Ohio State-honed quarterback, this is a fairly big secret. Gettleman, however, said his Manning successor will need to be a first-round pick. None of this year’s quarterbacks would outrank Rosen as prospects, in the eyes of multiple high-profile evaluators, either. Prior to selecting Barkley, though, the Giants may not have had Rosen as one of the top-three quarterbacks on their board last year.

The Cardinals took Rosen at No. 10 overall, giving up merely third- and fifth-round draft picks to move up five spots last year. The results were not pretty.

Rosen completed 55 percent of his passes, averaged 5.8 yards per attempt and threw 11 touchdown passes compared to 14 interceptions. He finished with a league-worst 26.1 Total QBR. Football Outsiders assessed the 6-foot-4 passer as last year’s worst full-time quarterback, with Rosen’s DVOA and DYAR figures well behind the pack. Arizona, though, employed two offensive coordinators last year and experienced rampant trouble on its offensive line, creating a shaky setup for a rookie quarterback.

It will almost certainly not cost a team a first-round pick to land Rosen this year. A second, or possibly a third, figures to be enough to pry the 2018 prospect away. The Giants hold the No. 37 overall pick but do not have another selection until No. 132; Big Blue’s third-rounder went toward 2018 supplemental draft cornerback Sam Beal. This would complicate a Giants trade for Rosen, with other teams seemingly likely to pursue the low-cost passer as well. With the Cardinals having paid his signing bonus, a team acquiring Rosen would have him for less than $7MM through the 2021 season. That is obviously great value, if a team believes the 22-year-old is a worthwhile starter.

So should the Giants be the team that pulls the trigger for Rosen, or should they focus on one of this year’s rookie QBs? After his rough debut season, do you view him as a legitimate option to be a long-term starter? Vote in PFR’s latest poll and weigh in with your thoughts in the comments section.

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