Arizona Cardinals commit to Josh Rosen as their quarterback

Last April, the Arizona Cardinals traded up to 10th-overall so they could land Josh Rosen in the NFL Draft. Now, one year later, rumors are swirling about whether or not the team plans to trade Rosen. They would do so to load up on picks and select Kyler Murray with the top pick in the draft.

On Tuesday, a day after Murray finally declared that he would be playing football and not baseball, Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury announced that the team remains firmly behind Rosen. Much of the reason that Arizona has been linked to Murray is because of a statement this fall from Kingsbury. Kingsbury said this autumn as the Texas Tech head coach that he’d take Kingsbury with the top pick. Additionally, Kingsbury is represented by agent Erik Burkhardt, who signed Murray as a client on Monday night.

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Now, Kingsbury owns the No. 1 overall selection. However, he landed on a team with a franchise quarterback already in place. As a result, seems highly unlikely the Cardinals would go that direction. In fact, owner Michael Bidwell went on local radio to talk about Rosen and the future that he envisions. Per NFL.com:

“Josh is a smart guy, he’s been around and he’s seen what happens year in and year out,” Bidwill said, via the Cardinals’ official team website. “There’s always a lot of speculation that turns out to not be true. But moving forward, we’re going to continue to build this team and build around the foundation that we have.”

Rosen, 22, struggled throughout his rookie year but was behind the league’s worst offensive line, went through two coordinators and is already on his second head coach after Steve Wilks was fired. Through it all, the former UCLA standout showed plenty as to why the Arizona Cardinals brass believes in him.

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Additionally, even if Kingsbury wants to make the move for Murray, it isn’t his call. General manager Steve Keim both drafted Rosen and despite a legion of changes throughout the roster and coaching staff, remains at his post. Unless Rosen brings back some sort of incredible haul, it’s incredibly likely that he remains the quarterback in Arizona while the Cardinals trade out of the top pick if they want to bring back ample draft capital.

Arizona has already begun its climb back towards respectability with the signings of Brooks Reed and Robert Alford on the defensive side. Should the Arizona Cardinals stay in their current draft position, they could take Nick Bosa, brother of Joey Bosa, to play on the edge opposite Chandler Jones.

All told, Rosen could be the centerpiece of a quick rebuild in the desert.