Peter King: Josh Rosen Impressed

Like nearly all early NFL pre-season games, there was some good, bad and ugly takeaways from the Arizona Cardinals close win over the Los Angeles Chargers in both teams exhibition opener Saturday night at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale.

The Big Red second-team offensive line struggled and both teams were penalized early and often but, according to one NFL insider, if you look beyond the numbers, rookie quarterback Josh Rosen showed flashes as to why Arizona moved up in the first round to select him this past spring.

“The confidence Josh Rosen showed while playing,” NBCSports.com NFL Columnist Peter King said to Sports360AZ.com’s Brad Cesmat earlier this week of the former UCLA star. “I’m not saying it surprised me but if you ask me my one takeaway…if you go back and watch a few plays that he made…there was no hurried motion. There was no nervous motion.”

— Arizona Cardinals (@AZCardinals) May 4, 2018

While frequently bending over to field errant shotgun snaps behind center or scrambling to avoid pressure, Rosen looked the part of a seasoned vet, not a first-year player being baptized-by-fire in the pre-season.

“He looked comfortable,” King explained. 

The long-time NFL columnist would like to see Rosen play more with the first-team in the Cards’ third pre-season game on August 26th in Arlington against the Cowboys. With starter Sam Bradford’s injury history, King believes it only makes sense for Rosen to work with the starters as the regular season quickly approaches next month.

The Cardinals hit the road this week playing the Saints in New Orleans on Friday night.