Josh is our guy.

Kliff Kingsbury, head coach of the Cardinals

Kingsbury was quoted with this on the Cardinals website on Tuesday, reacting to speculations whether the Cardinals could use their first overall pick to draft a QB.

For now it seems like the Cardinals won’t use their first pick for a quarterback, but that in no way means that he’s their franchise quarterback and will be on the Cardinals roster forever. The speculations tell you at least one thing: The performance of Rosen wasn’t convincing.

Rosen’s performance in his rookie season

You can see that obviously by the team’s overall performance (last in the NFL), but as wins and losses are not a quarterback stat (!), if you look at Rosen’s personal stats that doesn’t make it much better. A 66.7 passer rating, 11 touchdowns and 14 interceptions, 2278 yards and a completion percentage of 55.2% tell you everything you need to know. Yes, he had nearly no offensive weapons and his offensive line was – to be nice – weak. But he wasn’t great at all.

What makes Rosen the perfect Rodgers successor?

So why do I think he could be the successor of Aaron Rodgers, one of the greatest quarterbacks the NFL has ever seen? Well, let’s compare them both: Rodgers is a quarterback from a californian college (like Rosen) that was a first round pick in the NFL draft (like Rosen) and hasn’t played in his first three NFL seasons (unlike Rosen) and I think we all agree that this was as important for his development as a quarterback as for his personal development.

Rodgers – like Rosen – had a rough start in the NFL, but in different ways. Rodgers was drafted 24 overall and didn’t play competitive football in the NFL for three years. Rosen, on the other hand, was picked 10 overall in a strong quarterback class and had to play immediately (well, kind of). Something that didn’t go too well. You’d wish for any quarterback coming out of college that he has at least one year sitting behind an experienced veteran NFL quarterback.

Both quarterbacks are seen as brilliant minds, they come out of the same college, they have the same background and both have a strong arm. They even met each other before the NFL draft, when Rodgers told Rosen about his training methods and how he likes to step up training games by making it more difficult for himself e.g. by only looking to the receiver in the very last second. I’m pretty sure Rodgers would see himself more as a mentor to Rosen than Brett Favre saw himself to Rodgers (less would also be complicated to be honest)

Rodgers and Rosen meet before the 2018 NFL Draft

Rosen is a free agent in 2022. Rodgers then has two more years on his deal. This would be the last possible time frame for the Packers to go after Rosen. I think it would be more realistic for the Packers to pursue Rosen after this season, if he has another down year. This would mean he’d have to sit behind Rodgers for three or four more years. I don’t know how realistic it is to think he’d do that – maybe not so much. But it could make a great, great quarterback out of him.

The Patriots rumors

Rosen is also connected with the Patriots as the successor of Tom Brady. In New England, Rosen would probably get an earlier chance of playing as a starting quarterback on a promising team. But – and there is a huge but – he would maybe have Tom Brady as his mentor because Brady could play football until he’s 70. And I think there’s one thing worse than having Brett Favre as your mentor – having Tom Brady as your mentor. If he just thinks you’re any good, he’ll throw you out of New England like he did with Jimmy G. And there’s another thing with the Patriots: BIll Belichik. The chance that he’ll stay an NFL coach much longer than Brady’s tenure is pretty small.

And what happens to New England when Tom Brady and Bill Belichik are gone is up in the stars (as a German saying goes). So as Josh Rosen I wouldn’t chose the Patriots, that’s all I’m saying. They could be the next Browns or Cardinals in three or four years.

Max Sachs is an international Packers fan from Germany. As a part of the Packers Germany, he tries to convince everyone around him to cheer for the greatest franchise on earth - or to start with, for American football in general. You can find him on Twitter @KaesekopfDE (the german translation for cheesehead).