Is it fair to call Josh Rosen a bust or simply unlucky?

Has Josh Rosen been the victim of bad circumstances or has his play been the reason for his short tenure in Arizona and what looks like another one-and-done year in Miami?

Has there ever been a prospect who went through more turmoil and uncertainty than quarterback Josh Rosen? He was touted as the next great signal-caller in a loaded NFL Draft class of 2018. Rosen has been in the league for three years, and he’s on the verge of joining his third team in that span, as reports indicate that the Miami Dolphins are making calls around the league to see if any team is willing to trade for him.

Some have already called Rosen a bust, but that’s simply not true. He’s the unluckiest draft prospect in recent memory, and that’s a fact.

Rosen has never been given a fair shake

All eyes were on Rosen during his junior season at UCLA in 2017, because he was highly-touted as a can’t-miss quarterback prospect. NFL fans got a glimpse of how good he can be at the pro level after his miraculous comeback victory over Texas A&M on a fake spike play. Rosen threw for 3,765 yards, 26 touchdowns and 10 interceptions on a 62.6 completion percentage that season before declaring for the NFL Draft.

During the pre-draft process, experts and analysts said that Rosen was the best pure passer in the class, over the likes of Lamar Jackson, Sam Darnold, Baker Mayfield and Josh Allen. The only downsides to Rosen’s game were his lack of mobility and his durability. But as long as he was behind a sturdy offensive line, he’d have no problems in the NFL. And that’s where the issues began.

Rosen shockingly dropped to the tenth overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft, and the Arizona Cardinals moved up to select him as their quarterback of the future. This was quite possibly the worst team for Rosen to end up on. The Cardinals had an abysmal offensive line that year, but Rosen wasn’t expected to start in 2018. Free agent acquisition Sam Bradford was given bags of money to start under center for Arizona. However, Bradford was brutally bad three games into the season, forcing then-head coach Steve Wilks to throw Rosen to the wolves with the worst-possible pass-protecting group imaginable. Through 14 games, the rookie completed 55.2 percent of his passes for 2,278 yards for 11 touchdowns and 14 interceptions.

Following the season, the Cardinals fired Wilks and brought in former Texas Tech head coach Kliff Kingsbury as his replacement. Even though Kingsbury hyped up Rosen, saying he was perfect for his Air Raid offense, it was all smokescreen. The worst kept secret of the 2019 draft was that Kingsbury was going to use the first overall pick on Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray. Sure enough, that’s exactly what happened. The Cardinals gave up on Rosen and put him on the trading block. No worries, Rosen would end up on a team that would give him a shot at being their starting quarterback for the foreseeable future, right?

Nope. Rosen was traded to the Dolphins, who entered the 2019 season planning to tank for Alabama southpaw quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. Like the Cardinals, the Dolphins’ o-line was equally terrible. In fact, the team traded lone bright spot and left tackle Laremy Tunsil to the Houston Texans for a premier draft package, just in case they needed to move up to take Tagovailoa. Rosen didn’t win the starting job, but he did play in six games last season, throwing for 567 yards, one touchdown and five interceptions. Sure enough, the Dolphins were able to draft Tagovailoa with the fifth-overall pick, and now Rosen is on the trading block for the second-consecutive year.

It’s simply not right to call Rosen a bust just yet. He’s been on two awful football teams that lacked quality offensive lines. Plus, those squads were never committed to Rosen long-term. The only way we can truly determine if Rosen is a bust or not is if he ends up on a team that’s willing to give him a chance down the road.

Until then, please call Rosen the unluckiest quarterback in the NFL.