Should the Steelers sign former Dolphins QB Josh Rosen?

The Steelers aren’t exactly golden at quarterback behind Ben Roethlisberger. Should consider signing former 10th overall pick, Josh Rosen?

Last year was a nightmare that we all wanted to end for the Steelers. Despite having one of the league’s most dominant defensive unit that was riddled with Pro Bowl and All-Pro talent, we knew the Steelers couldn’t go anywhere in 2019 because of the dismal quarterback play.

After Ben Roethlisberger went down for the season, there was a beacon of hope that Mason Rudolph could be the guy. Though Pittsburgh ultimately fell to Seattle at Heinz Field in Week 2, Rudolph flashed in the second half – completing 12 of 19 passes for 2 touchdowns and 1 interception.

Over the next four weeks, Rudolph would do just enough to sucker fans into believing we had a chance. However, the Steelers backups showed their true colors in the second half of the season. From Week 9 on, Devlin Hodges and Rudolph combined for just 8 passing touchdowns and 14 interceptions.

But despite the trainwreck at quarterback last year, the Steelers did little in the way of improving the position. Now, perhaps they will get another chance.

Recently, the Miami Dolphins cut ties with Josh Rosen – the former 10th overall pick of the Arizona Cardinals in 2018. While Rosen has, by no means, been a great passer, he’s still just 23 years old and was at the mercy of some very bad offenses in his first two seasons in the league.

Should the Steelers consider signing Josh Rosen?

Josh Rosen was an intriguing prospect coming out of UCLA in 2018. He threw for 59 touchdowns and 26 interceptions, and his playstyle and pocket awareness even drew some comparisons to Matt Ryan. However, his personality was an issue for teams.

Though Rosen had some solid tape to go with a good arm, teams were concerned with his unusual level of arrogance and how he carried himself. Many draft analysts even questioned if Rosen cared enough about football to stick with it.

While personality differences can be overcome by itself, I don’t believe he has shown enough for the Steeles to switch things up and bring him in as the number three passer. In his NFL career, Rosen has just a 3-13 record and has thrown for 12 touchdowns and 19 interceptions. In addition, his 5.7 career yards per attempt are embarrassingly bad and is significantly worse than both Hodges and Rudolph.

This is one of those classic situations in which we are still putting too much focus on Rosen’s draft status (that was clearly too high) rather than the player we have seen on the NFL field. After two years in the league and already about to enter his third team, this is a mess Pittsburgh would be wise to avoid.

While Mason Rudolph and Devlin Hodges may not be the answer after Ben Roethlisberger, perhaps they could show signs of improvement with a season under their belt. At the very least, it’s simply not worth bringing in a big personality like Josh Rosen unless you really believe he could be the future. Clearly, I don’t.