Josh Rosen has faced questions about his character leading up to the draft, and he apparently did little to answer them in at least one of his interviews with an NFL team at the Scouting Combine in Indianapolis.
Phil Perry of NBC Sports Boston shared several tidbits about the quarterbacks in this year’s draft class on Monday, and one of the things he was told about Rosen was not exactly flattering. According to Perry, Rosen took offense to an NFL interviewer asking him about a particular interception he had thrown in a game at UCLA. Rosen reportedly made the mistake of getting defensive and answering a question with a question.
What many believe prevents Rosen from being mentioned more consistently as an option at No. 1 is the question of how his attitude will play at the next level. The consensus is he will not be the world’s easiest player to coach, and one story we heard this week did little to squash that notion. Asked in one of his interviews about an interception on his tape, Rosen shot back with another question, asking the interviewer if he’d ever played quarterback before. OK, then! For combine interviews, where coached-up answers are commonplace, that would qualify as a rare back-and-forth.
For what it’s worth, the information Peter King of The MMQB gathered from three coaches and two personnel people was a bit different. They said Rosen actually helped his cause both as a passer and in terms of football IQ, though King noted Rosen is not “beloved” and considered humble like Sam Darnold or Josh Allen.
Rosen comes from a wealthy family, and some questioned whether he is as committed to football as others because he doesn’t really “need” the sport. Rosen countered over the weekend by saying that should prove how much he loves football.
“Using the point that I don’t have to play football is an indication to why I actually love the game so much,” he said. “The fact that I have dedicated my heart and soul to this game that I may not financially need, I mean, I think that actually proves why I love this game so much. I am not forced to play it. My family raised me incredibly academic. They are both Ivy League grads and take great pride in it, and I had to convince them to let me drop out of college because I want to pursue this at the absolute highest level, and it took some convincing but hopefully it will work out.”
With all the teams reportedly looking to draft a quarterback early, there’s almost no chance Rosen slips far down the board. But when he does land on an NFL team, it’s clear he’ll have more than a few critics to silence.
