One intriguing storyline heading into the new NFL season was two top quarterbacks from the 2018 NFL Draft will be battling head-to-head twice a year in Sam Darnold and Josh Rosen. The latter was traded away from the Cardinals after Kyler Murray went No. 1 overall this year, and many were looking forward to these two gunslingers going at it in the AFC East for years to come.
But, while Darnold is set to start his sophomore season under center again, the same can't be said for Rosen at the moment.
Dolphins new head coach Brian Flores said on Tuesday that a former Jet in Ryan Fitzpatrick is actually leading the quarterback race in Miami at the moment.
"It's pretty clear to me that Ryan Fitzpatrick is leading the way," he said.
So what does this mean for the Giants? If fans flash back to April, there was a time when Rosen was among the team's options to improve their quarterback situation. Dave Gettleman passed on one of those top quarterbacks in last year's draft, taking Saquon Barkley instead. This was a chance to get one of those quarterbacks back.
Instead, Daniel Jones was the Giants' sixth overall pick this year, killing any notion that Rosen was headed to the Big Apple.
The journeyman Fitzpatrick is entering his 15th year in the NFL with his most recent team being the Bucs for the past two seasons. However, with Jameis Winston in place in Tampa Bay, Fitzpatrick only played 14 games in that span. He still played ahead of Winston last season where he started off 2-0, but lost his last five starts after that.
Rosen began the season on the bench in Arizona, but eventually entered the game in Week 3. After that, he was the starter for the rest of the season, but everything didn't go as he may have hoped. Rosen was subject to a big beating in the pocket thanks to an awful offensive line. Overall, he totaled 2,278 yards with 11 touchdowns to 14 interceptions.
This move to Miami, though, was supposed to be Rosen's fresh start. But, with both signal callers learning a new offense under Flores, experience seems to be trumping the eager, young arm.
The Giants and Dolphins do face off this season in Week 15, so it's too early to tell if Rosen will still be on the sideline then. But, as of now, Fitzpatrick has the upper hand -- and that could mean the Giants made the right decision in passing on the UCLA product.
