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Miami Dolphins Quarterback Gets Ready For Upcoming Games

Is he the quarterback of the future? He’s not even the quarterback of the third preseason game.

The third NFL preseason game is a reasonable barometer for determining starters, as almost no team will play any of its starters in the fourth and final preseason game.

So Josh Rosen, in his second NFL season and his first with the Miami Dolphins, was being asked Tuesday about coach Brian Flores’ decision to start Ryan Fitzpatrick in the third preseason game, which is Thursday at home against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Fitzpatrick, 36, is with his eighth team in a career that began in 2005. Rosen at that time was 8 years old. Rosen is the future, if he is anything. After a rough rookie year with a terrible Arizona Cardinals, the 10th overall pick in the 2018 draft must relearn everything – a trick Fitzpatrick, who went to Harvard, has apparently mastered.

The Dolphins haven’t had a marquee quarterback since Dan Marino. Rosen is not exactly on a Marino-like arc to the starting job. At least he says the right things. If Fitzpatrick starts Thursday, so be it. There’s always another game, another day.

“I’m not focusing on the competition at all. Anything Fitz does well, I’m trying to figure out why he did it well and how I can replicate that because we will run the same plays inevitably. Anything that he does poorly, I try to find out why he did it poorly. He’s humble and generous enough to help me out as to why that went well or why it didn’t do well,” Rosen said at training camp in Davie, Florida.

“I’m trying to go out and execute my next play the best that I can. I obviously care about playing and all this; but in terms of where I stand, I really couldn’t care less about the whole competition. I’m really just trying to be the best that I can be.”

Rosen has made some nice throws in his opportunities so far. He’s been hurt by the absence of a cohesive offensive line. His gunslinger instincts haven’t necessarily worked for him yet.

Will Rosen be any good? Will the Dolphins, who haven’t won a playoff game since the 2000 season, be any good? If their fates are tied together, will any of us be any good?

 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman