Josh Rosen and the NFL's 'Ideal' Quarterback

There may be nothing in sports at once so essential and elusive as a franchise quarterback. NFL teams spend years, sometimes decades, searching for their own Peyton Manning or Aaron Rodgers: a signal-caller with the physical attributes to make pinpoint throws and the mental abilities to master a playbook and thrive under pressure, plus the ineffable “it factor” that helps rally teammates behind them. Often in that search, whether leading up to the draft or in free agency, decision-makers seem to have a distinct (and familiar) archetype in mind: tall, handsome, hard-working, easy to like, with a strong arm but also a natural charisma and knack for leadership. And when a talented quarterback comes along who doesn’t quite conform to that mold? Well, things tend to get complicated.

Few classes of quarterback prospects ever have threatened the NFL’s orthodoxy about whether he should even stick at quarterback given his tendency to leave the pocket and run more than NFL teams prefer. And there’s Josh Rosen, a player with all the tools to be a successful pro but knocks against him, including the idea that he’s “” for the NFL and the “he might like humanitarian work more than football.”