Arizona Cardinals: Is Josh Rosen really being shopped around?

Current rumors suggest that the Arizona Cardinals are looking to deal Josh Rosen away, but is he truly being shopped?

Evidently, the Arizona Cardinals are in the process of trading Josh Rosen. NFL Network analyst Charlie Casserly reported that an unidentified team executive broke the news to him. Is Casserly being played or are the Cardinals clearing roster space?

It’s no secret that new head coach Kliff Kingsbury has previously indicated (prior to being hired) that he would select Kyler Murray as the top pick in the 2019 NFL Draft. His comments, from last fall, have been well documented and he has answered questions after being named Arizona’s head coach.

In February, Kingsbury specifically said that Rosen is his quarterback. Darren Urban of AZCardinals.com reported the following comments:

"“Our feelings toward Josh haven’t waned or changed,” Kingsbury said. “I get that we have the first pick … Josh is our guy.”"

However, there was a report from the NFL Combine that drafting Murray was going to happen. Since then, Kingsbury has suggested that there has not been a decision made concerning the first pick. Perhaps cooler heads have prevailed in that situation.

So, apparently, several NFL teams have contacted Arizona about the availability of Rosen. Really, after Casserly reported that the Redbirds were shopping him around? Were they not aware that Rosen was on the market? Or was Casserly fed a line to create confusion?

Shane Dale of abc15.com reported the following:

"Multiple teams have reached out to the Arizona Cardinals about possibly acquiring quarterback and 2018 first-round NFL Draft pick Josh Rosen, but the Cardinals have not shown interest in trading him at this point, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Wednesday."

Dale continued:

"ESPN NFL analyst Louis Riddick told ABC15 it’s “more probable than not” that the Cardinals will trade Rosen and draft Murray, … On the other hand, Rich Eisen, … reported the Cardinals have told Rosen he’s their guy."

On March 13, teams will be able to make trades and sign free agents. Trade rumors generally leak out, especially when both sides are close to finalizing the deal.  Remember, Rosen looks like the prototypical air raid quarterback. Kingsbury is installing his version of the Mike Leach offense, the offense that Kingsbury, Graham Harrell and Lincoln Riley ran at Texas Tech under Leach.

There’s no doubt that Casserly is reporting what he heard and so are the others. Suppose Arizona drafts Murray first nd there are two other quarterbacks on the Cardinals roster that could be released. Rosen and Murray would give Arizona depth at the quarterback positio, that other teams would love to have.

It’s highly unlikely that Arizona trades Rosen but stranger things have happened.