Josh Rosen basically said it’s fake news he doesn’t want to play for Browns
He sort of said it before, but Josh Rosen is walking back a perception he doesn’t want to play for the Cleveland Browns.
After failing over and over to find a quarterback, the Cleveland Browns have a unique opportunity ahead of them this offseason. Flush with salary cap space to use in free agency and with two top-five picks in April’s draft, almost any direction is on the table to finally get the right man under center.
Josh Rosen is widely expected to go off the board in the first 5-10 picks in this year’s draft. Cleveland will have two shots to get him, at No. 1 and No. 4 overall, if they want to of course.
Back in December, the former UCLA signal caller said he would rather be drafted later and go to the right team then be drafted early by the wrong team. That’s an understandable idea, but even without a specific mention it was pretty clearly a shot at the Browns and a potential warning sign that they should not draft him.
With the NFL Combine set to fully get going later this week, Rosen is trying to dispel the perception he is anti-Browns.
Ex-UCLA QB Josh Rosen told me last week, ‘I’ve never said anything about not wanting to play in Cleveland. I don’t know where that came from. There's absolutely no foundation in reality in that (report).’
— Michael Silver (@MikeSilver) February 27, 2018
Rosen has been perceived as being too smart for his own good and not loving football as much as he could or should, partly due to coming from a privileged background. His comments about the challenge of juggling athletic commitment with a legitimate pursuit of a college degree also drew some ire, but it’s hard to see NFL teams holding that against him.
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If nothing else, the Browns will have an opportunity to interview Rosen in Indianapolis at the combine. While the explanation should not legitimately tilt their perception of him one way or the other, a question regarding Rosen’s previous comments about being willing to fall in the draft has to be coming.