Josh Rosen enters the 2018 NFL Draft with lofty aspirations.
In a lengthy and wide-ranging Q&A with ESPN The Magazine’s Sam Alipour published Tuesday, the UCLA quarterback prospect said his goal at the next level is simple: to win more games and Super Bowl titles than any QB in history.
“I want to be great — in everything I do,” Rosen said. “As far as football, I always looked up to Kellen Moore of Boise State (who holds the FBS record for wins by a quarterback). I thought it was the coolest thing that he was the winningest QB of all time. I thought that was a cool word: winningest. So I want to be the winningest QB in NFL history. I want to win the most games and most championships. I’d say six titles, but if Tom Brady gets six, I’ll say seven.”
Brady, who is entering his 18th season as the New England Patriots’ starting quarterback, owns the NFL records for regular-season wins (196), playoff wins (27), total wins (223) and Super Bowl wins (five) by a QB. It will be years — if not decades — before any of those marks are broken.
Rosen is known for his confidence, though, which been viewed both as a positive and as a negative during the pre-draft process. Much of the 21-year-old’s ESPN interview was spent discussing the public perception that he’s cocky and difficult to work with.
“You have to be (cocky),” Rosen said. “But you have to know where it plays and where it doesn’t. If you’re talking to reporters, pull your foot off the pedal. In a game, if the window’s closing on your receiver, sometimes you need to dial it up and say f— that, I’m going to get the ball in there. I’m supremely confident in my abilities as a quarterback.”
Given the number of quarterback-needy teams at the top of the 2018 NFL Draft, Rosen’s name is likely to be one of the first called later this month in Arlington, Texas. He, Sam Darnold, Baker Mayfield and Josh Allen are considered the top signal-callers available, and all four are expected to be among the first 10 or 12 players selected.
Brady’s Patriots aren’t scheduled to pick until late in the first round, but after acquiring the 23rd overall pick in the Brandin Cooks trade, they have the assets necessary to trade up for one of those top QBs if they so choose. NESN.com’s latest Patriots mock draft has them doing just that, trading three picks to the Cleveland Browns for the fourth overall selection and using it to draft Rosen.
