Patriots reportedly one of three teams interested in Josh Rosen

The New England Patriots are reportedly one of three different teams that have expressed interest in acquiring Arizona Cardinals quarterback Josh Rosen.

Though the New England Patriots‘ immediate focus needs to be on reloading at the wafer-thin wide receiver position – as well as finding a replacement for the recently-retired Rob Gronkowski at tight end – sooner or later they also need to start thinking about finding their next franchise quarterback.

Tom Brady is a living legend at 41, but even he has acknowledged that he doesn’t plan on sticking around much longer than another two-to-three years at most. If and when Brady retires, who then assumes the mantle of starting Patriots quarterback?

Talk about big shoes to fill…

If recent reports and speculation are to be believed, maybe the answer lies west in the desert city of Phoenix, Arizona. That’s because Joel Klatt of Fox Sports joined FS1’s “Undisputed” show and made the claim that there are three separate NFL franchises “very interested” in making a trade for Cardinals quarterback Josh Rosen, and one of those teams is the Patriots.

Klatt also reported that one of the three teams – and he wouldn’t say which – has already offered a second-round pick for Rosen, but the Cardinals are trying to hold out for a first-round pick instead.

It would make sense if the Patriots were the team in question. After all, New England has a veritable treasure trove of riches in the 2019 NFL Draft – 12 different picks, to be exact… the most of any team. On top of that, they have three picks in the first two rounds: No. 32 (1st), No. 56 (2nd), and No. 64 (2nd).

Theoretically, the Patriots could dangle either one of those two second-rounders for Rosen and still come out the other side with two picks in the first two rounds and 11 picks overall. We all know that “Trader Bill” (as New England draft fans love to call him) will inevitably end up wheeling and dealing most of his picks around to other teams anyway, but even by Belichick’s standards, the amount of capital and ammunition he has to play with next month is staggering.

So the question remains: are the Cardinals actively shopping Rosen, and if they are, will the Patriots produce a good enough deal to land him? And then of course there’s the question of whether or not Rosen is even worth shopping for in the first place.

The answers to all these questions probably won’t be known until April. Multiple reports have linked new Arizona HC Kliff Kingsbury to Oklahoma Sooner QB Kyler Murray; Kingsbury has been openly infatuated with Murray for years, and even went so far as to once say he’d take Murray No. 1 overall if given the chance as an NFL head coach. At the time he couldn’t have known he’d actually have that opportunity one day, but now it’s a very real possibility.

If the Cards select Murray, they’d have no need for Rosen. After all, it doesn’t make sense to have two young first-round quarterbacks taken in back-to-back drafts competing for the starting reps on the same squad, financially or just pragmatically-speaking. So one would think that if Arizona really does want to move on Murray, they’ll likely want to rid themselves of Rosen and be compensated as adequately as they can before April 25, the first day of the draft.

Klatt’s report suggests that the Patriots are competing with the Los Angeles Chargers and the New York Giants for Rosen. Both teams have aging quarterbacks of their own – Philip Rivers is 37 and Eli Manning is 38 – and neither one of them has expressed any desire to play into their mid-40s like Brady has.

Of the three teams, the Giants might be the most desperate. While Brady and Rivers are still playing some of the best football of their respective careers, Eli Manning is definitely on a downward spiral, and his play has been trending in the wrong direction for years now. The Giants are also in complete rebuild mode after shipping Odell Beckham Jr. to Cleveland, so it would make sense they’d have an interest in finding their future quarterback now while the team seeks to rebrand and start over.

On the other hand, the Chargers and the Patriots both made the playoffs last season and look like strong contenders entering the 2019 season. If Rosen were to land in either locale, he would probably sit and be tasked with soaking up as much knowledge and experience as he could playing backup for a couple more years before being given his chance to start.

It might be a tough pill to swallow for the 22-year-old, especially after immediately coming in and starting as a rookie this past season in Arizona, but it could also be the best path forward for him to grow and mature. There are few better quarterbacks in today’s NFL – or in the history of the NFL in general – than Brady and Rivers, and Rosen would become a better player just by osmosis of being near either one.

All of this is assuming Rosen has what it takes to become a capable and competent NFL quarterback though. His rookie season wasn’t impressive by any measuring stick, and to call it a “disaster” isn’t exactly hyperbole. Granted, he had few weapons at his disposal, his line was porous, and he was absolutely thrown to the wolves as a kid just fresh out of college.

If Belichick and the Patriots see something in him though they could nurture and develop, then perhaps he’s worth a second-round pick or more. Regardless, it’s an interesting report to consider, and certainly a story worth following as we move ever-closer to April’s NFL Draft.