Report: Patriots not interested in Josh Rosen, unlikely to take QB early

The New England Patriots need to start thinking about who will take over for Tom Brady when the six-time Super Bowl champion finally calls it a career, but they do not appear to be in a rush to find his replacement.

The Patriots are among a handful of teams that have been linked to Josh Rosen this offseason, but ESPN’s Adam Schefter told WEEI’s “Mut & Callahan Show” on Thursday that they have not even inquired about the Arizona Cardinals quarterback.

“Again, Arizona is going to want a (second-round pick) and I don’t see New England giving (that) up,” Schefter said. “I don’t think that’s where they were on the guy last year. Could their feelings change one year later? I guess, but that’s not something I foresee New England pursuing.”

Schefter added that the Patriots would probably become interested if the Cardinals lowered the asking price for Rosen to something close to a sixth-round pick, but that is not going to happen. There has also been talk about New England potentially taking a quarterback early in the draft this weekend, though Schefter doesn’t envision that playing out, either.

“I won’t be surprised at all if they take a quarterback, but I don’t see a quarterback at No. 32 on a team that, even though it’s the defending world champion, still has as many holes as this one does,” Schefter said. “The backup QB is not a big hole right now for a team that has more draft capital than any other team. They’re going to take a quarterback when there’s value at quarterback, and that’s not going to be at the end of Round 1.”

Brady is still playing at a high level and seems to have a very clear timeline in place for how much longer he will play, so the Patriots don’t have to rush to find the next guy. They would probably draft a quarterback early if there was one they liked enough, but perhaps they simply aren’t all that enamored with this year’s QB class.