When the Oakland Raiders found themselves on the clock at 10th overall Thursday night, most figured a team would look to trade up for former UCLA standout Josh Rosen. It was somewhat of a shock to see the first nine picks come and go without Rosen being selected. Though, a draft-day slide had been bandied about for some time.
In what can’t be considered too much of a surprise, the Arizona Cardinals gave up their first-round pick 15th overall, a third-round pick and a fifth-round pick to move up to the 10th spot. With that selection, the Cardinals picked up Rosen.
Rosen will wear red
He used to rock blue
Those that wanted us to take @Josh3Rosen
Your dreams have come true. pic.twitter.com/5xjcC9wUom— Arizona Cardinals (@AZCardinals) April 27, 2018
First off, it’s a bold move for a Cardinals team that entered Round 1 having to rely on the injury-prone Sam Bradford to start over the short term. That may no longer be the case with Rosen on board. Secondly, Arizona didn’t even have to move as much as a second-round pick to trade up five spots. That’s an absolute steal right there.
Given that Buffalo had exhausted two second-round picks to move up from the 12th selection to No. 7 overall for Josh Allen, that makes this trade even more noteworthy from a Cardinals perspective.
Unlike other teams that were attempting to move up for signal callers, Arizona didn’t have additional picks to make the move. Seeing Rosen fall to 10 had to be music to the ears of GM John Keim an Co.
We have no real idea where Rosen will pan out. There are very specific questions surrounding his character and lack of maturity. But for a Cardinals team that had not invested on a young quarterback since Matt Leinart in 2006, it’s a move the team simply needed to make.
Arizona now has a plan moving forward at quarterback. That’s absolutely huge in an NFC West that already boasts the likes of Russell Wilson, Jared Goff and Jimmy Garoppolo. Adding Rosen to the mix makes the team look much more competitive moving forward. That’s for sure.