Cleveland Browns: Josh Rosen 2018 NFL Draft scouting report

UCLA’s Josh Rosen might not have the upside of some of the others in the draft class, but the Cleveland Browns might want a young, three-year starter that wins from the pocket.

Josh Rosen is the purest passer in the 2018 NFL Draft class. He’s got everything teams look for in terms of passing from the pocket in terms of arm strength, velocity and accuracy, plus the instincts to use them all effectively.

Teddy Bridgewater was the last true junior and three year starter to be in the NFL Draft, combining the starting experience teams want from a quarterback while still being extremely young. Like with Bridgewater at the time, the hope is that Rosen is equipped to be successful now and his best football may still be ahead of him.

Let’s start with the production.

Production

60.8 completion percentage, 7.98 yards per attempt, 7.99 adjusted yards per attempt, 59 touchdowns, 26 interceptions (2.26:1), 311.3 yards per game in 30 games and 6 rushing touchdowns.

His production is good, not great, and there are a few other quarterbacks which are better than Rosen in terms of efficiency. The interceptions hurt him when it comes to his adjusted yards per attempt, but he is still on the positive end there. Rosen racks up a ton of raw yardage and needs to make more opportunities pay off with points.

Measurements

Height: 6-4
Weight: 226 lbs
Hand Size: 9.875″

Although he weighed in at a prototypical 226 pounds and there is plenty of room on his frame to add weight, he played closer to 210 pounds during the season. The 226 seems a little artificial, but the capacity is there for him to get that big with work.

His hand size is pretty close to prototypical and his height is more than adequate.

Athletic Testing

Age: 20 years old (Born June 5, 1997)

40 Yard Dash: 4.92s
Broad Jump: 9’3″
Vertical: 31″
3-Cone: 7.09s
Shuttle: 4.28s
Radar Gun: 56 mph

His testing is a little better than most would expect. Rosen is athletic and clears all the thresholds pretty easily with impressive explosion. The tape shows there are only flashes of him actually using that athleticism. It certainly shows he has the capacity for it, but it may frustrate some how unathletic he seems to appear on the field.

The combination of being so young while being a three-year starter works in his favor. Unfortunately, he missed time due to injuries.

Arm Strength and Accuracy

Rosen’s arm strength is excellent. Even from awkward platforms or falling backwards, Rosen’s ability to cut it loose is obvious and impressive. His velocity is outstanding and he’s able to generate it easily, naturally.

He has every throw in his arsenal, can drive the ball down the field, fit passes in a window and shows the ability to make touch and timing passes. When he really wants to showcase it, Rosen can throw some of the most beautiful passes out there; tight spiral, cutting through the air effortlessly.

Despite playing his home games in picturesque Westwood, his passing is remarkably weather resistant. He’s got the bigger hands and throws a tight spiral. The hand size should aid with his grip and the spiral helps both in the wind and precipitation.

Throwing Motion

Rosen’s got a classic, overhand throwing motion. On shorter passes, he goes to the ear and forward and then on longer ones, he’ll go a little further back and then drive forward. It’s tight, efficient and just how a team would want it to look. Occasionally, Rosen will drop down to three quarters as well.

The only area coaches could quibble with on Rosen is how low he holds the ball as a passer. It ends up in front of his number and he’s moving it up to throw. Coaches tend to prefer the ball be up front of a player’s throat to get it out more efficiently. Having said that, nothing about how Rosen holds the ball is problematic or impacting him on the field, so teams not may even care. It just wouldn’t be a huge surprise if he was coached to make a slight adjustment to hold it higher.

That’s really the biggest potential issue for Rosen in how he throws the ball. It’s clean and he can plug right in and go.

Footwork

Rosen’s got clean, predictable footwork. It’s boring and automatic, which is exactly how it should go. He’s got pretty quick feet, the ability to shuffle forward and backward while maintaining a good throwing platform and is almost always able to get in a position to make a good throw.

UCLA’s offense had him under center, so he’s accustomed to taking his drops from under center. He has extensive experience with playaction and turning his back to the offense, so he’s also very rehearsed in how he approaches it. Again, very predictable and effective.

His step to throw the ball is very short, enabling him to get the ball out fast and he’s still able to rip it without issue. It’s important Rosen is so consistent and effective with his footwork, because when he’s forced to do things that aren’t comfortable like stepping out while throwing, his accuracy can be impacted.

Rosen’s issue from the waist down largely come down to nitpicking. In Rosen’s case, a coach might complain with some of the hops he takes when he’s holding onto the ball or moving up in the pocket, basically deeming it as wasted motion. It’s pretty insignificant and could be corrected, but the team that gets him simply may not care enough to mess with it.

Pocket Presence

Rosen’s pocket presence can be very good. He is effective when it comes to moving up or back, in or out while maintaining his throwing platform, can find space to make a throw. One of the best things Rosen does in the pocket is stepping up to make throws.

At times, Rosen will deftly evade the rush while not even acknowledging it, step up or to the side and make a throw down the field. Whether it’s just the clock or feeling the rush, there are times when he avoids the pass rush with a step, using the pocket to cut off the rush.

Then there are some times Rosen will hold the ball too long, be oblivious to pressure and get decked for it. And if Rosen thinks the play has no chance, he’s may just go ahead and go down to avoid taking the big hit and preserve the possession.

Rosen does a good job of keeping his eyes down the field and looking for opportunities to throw the ball. He can run a little bit and isn’t afraid to do it but clearly is a passer first, second and maybe even third.

If Rosen can continue to improve his pocket presence and really hone in the feel and that internal clock, he can really make life easier on his offensive line. He’s predictable in where he’s gonna be which makes their lives easier as they have a sense of where they can go with their defenders, so that both Rosen and his linemen can extend plays.

PASADENA, CA – SEPTEMBER 03: Josh Rosen #3 reacts to throwing a touchdown to Jordan Lasley #2 of the UCLA Bruins during the second half of a game against the Texas A&M Aggies at the Rose Bowl on September 3, 2017 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images) /

Mobility

Rosen can move, but uses it pretty sparingly. The Bruins had him do some zone read stuff where he kept and he was more than willing to execute it. He also occasionally pulls down the ball and runs. There’s little Rosen is unable to do from a mobility standpoint, but seems far more at home in the pocket.

Rosen is prudent when it comes to taking what the defense gives him and either getting into the end zone, getting down or going out of bounds. He’s not a quarterback who’s looking to give defenders free shots and tries to protect himself from getting hit.

Rosen isn’t going to break off a big run or make many defenders miss, but he is more than capable of picking up a key first down or taking advantage of an opening down near the goal line. And because he’s viewed as such a statue, it’s likely always going to be available to him as few defenses are really going to dedicate anyone on the chance Rosen might take off, so in that sense, free yardage.

Rosen is also pretty good at going under center and running the quarterback sneak in short yardage situations. This seems minor, but because fewer and fewer teams run under center with any regularity, it’s an asset and one more thing he brings to the table that he can prove based on the tape.

Decision Making

This is the biggest question mark for Rosen. Every game, a few times per game, Rosen will throw passes that almost defy explanation. He’ll either throw a pass into coverage and it’s as if he didn’t see a guy there or thought he could get the pass there anyway.

Some of it is certainly based on trusting his arm and being able to will a play. Pressure plays a big role not only from a pass rush standpoint but also the fact that Rosen had to be good just for UCLA to have a chance in games. None of them are winning football plays and they raise the biggest on field questions when it comes to Rosen’s game going to the next level.

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And this is likely a conversation teams have had with Rosen as they go through his tape and basically trying to understand what led into those decisions to determine if they believe that this is an issue that is likely to improve in the NFL or if it’s going to be a lingering part of his game, just part of the Rosen package.

While Rosen does make his share of bewildering decisions with the football, he also does some truly remarkable things as a quarterback. He’s able to go through progressions quickly and find holes in the defense.

There are countless examples where Rosen goes away from his primary and secondary reads and finds a third or even fourth receiver wide open down the field, makes the play and the offense goes right down the field. That’s incredibly deflating from a defensive perspective. In some ways, the only way to stop Rosen is to hit him, because unless he stops himself, he’s going to figure out what a defense is doing and beat them.

And as the game rolls along, that seems to be what happens. He finds guys wide open on plays later in games. Again, those boneheaded decisions still prop up and need to improve, but Rosen’s overall game gets better as the game moves along.

If Rosen can keep improving his decision making, finding the right balance of when he can gamble and when he can’t, he’s going to become more and more difficult to stop. As dangerous as he is in the passing game, he will occasionally bail teams out in bad spots. If he can just keep improving that ratio and reducing or even eliminating those mistakes that cost his team, it’s going to be difficult to stop him.

Miscellaneous

Rosen suffered a handful of injuries. From having shoulder surgery his sophomore year to suffering multiple concussions, Rosen has missed eight games in his collegiate career and only played one full season as a freshman. The medical report from teams on that shoulder in particular will be critical.

Rosen showed the most to teams that can easily translate to the NFL. Rosen’s playbook had him do a little of everything and it’s easiest to see him do things that teams would expect on Sundays. Under center, out of gun, turning his back to the defense, various rollouts, so on and so forth. It’s easy to visualize Rosen doing these things in the NFL because he did all of them on tape quite a bit.

Rosen on the Browns

Rosen looks like he’s a plug and play starter. Once he masters the offense and times up with his receivers, there’s nothing holding him back from playing as a rookie. His fundamentals are excellent and he does so many things right that the stuff he needs to work on could likely be addressed on the field.

The one caveat is with the decision making. The question that has to be answered is with what he’s doing to diagnose and read defenses that would cause some of the poor decisions he’s made at the collegiate level. From that standpoint, simply getting better at reading defenses and knowing when to err on the side of caution as a passer could be beneficial.

That said, if the Browns were to draft Rosen and he was legitimately going head to head in a competition with Tyrod Taylor, Rosen might beat him out. There are things Rosen simply does better than Taylor, particularly from a pure passing perspective and working through progressions. The same can be said of Taylor over Rosen, especially when it comes to protecting the football and what he can do as a runner.

Nevertheless, Rosen’s ability as a pure passer and how quickly he seems to process information and go through reads is such a huge advantage. And being able to do it at such a young age is notable.

The added benefit for a guy like Rosen is he may be one of the most Hue Jackson-proof quarterbacks available. Rosen doesn’t need to be fixed and many of the adjustments he’ll make will likely come from a productive relationship between he and his quarterback coach, who will basically need to convince Rosen of what changes he needs to make and then Rosen will make them, largely on his own.

Conclusions

Rosen isn’t going to wow you with his legs or ability to make miraculous plays on the move. His arm, however, is something that can make a team fall in love. Combine that with his intelligence and how quickly he processes information and he can be great pure passer. And wherever the NFL goes, having someone who can read defenses and make plays as a passer will always have substantial value.

Next: 2018 NFL Mock Draft: Full 7-Round projection

Rosen doesn’t have quite the upside that guys like Baker Mayfield or Sam Darnold have, but he doesn’t seem to be quite as risky as Darnold. Injuries are the biggest threat to derail Rosen’s career and the decision making could limit just how far he can go at the next level. Rosen can be a quarterback that goes to multiple Pro Bowls and lead a team to sustained success.

Because Rosen doesn’t have the All-Pro upside, it’s understandable why the Cleveland Browns would go for an option that does. That doesn’t change the fact that Rosen is simply a good quarterback and would be an excellent pick and worthy of a top-10 pick in this draft.

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Cleveland Browns: Josh Rosen scouting report

By Peter Smith | Apr 19, 2018