Arizona Cardinals passer being affected by bad coaching

Surrounding rookie quarterback Josh Rosen with the best possible coaches should be the Arizona Cardinals number-one priority

The front office of the Arizona Cardinals was able to achieve something of extreme importance this past offseason. In dire need of a young, franchise-type quarterback, the club landed one. Thanks to some crafty wheeling and dealing on draft day, UCLA’s Josh Rosen was added to the nest.

Cardinals fans couldn’t help but feel excited. The last time that the organization had drafted a passer in the first round was all the way back in 2006. That individual’s name was Matt Leinart, and we all know how that turned out.

Rosen wouldn’t even have to play right away. Arizona had signed Sam Bradford prior to the draft to lead the club. Unfortunately, the veteran was god-awful from the get-go, so Rosen was thrown into the fire much sooner than expected.

The results have not been great. While Rosen has performed impressively at times, there’ve been many shaky moments as well. What a young signal-caller needs most is solid coaching, but management has failed to provide that for their most valuable asset.

Rosen’s first teacher was Mike McCoy, head coach Steve Wilks’ personal choice to be the squad’s offensive coordinator. The youngster was asked to execute an offense being orchestrated by one of the most unimaginative play-callers ever employed by the Cards. McCoy lasted only until the 19th of October, when he and his outdated ideas were sent packing.

The next tutor given to Rosen hasn’t been much better. Byron Leftwich, a leftover from the Bruce Arians regime, was handed the play-calling duties. The offense improved marginally for awhile, but lately it’s been looking alot like what McCoy was running before he got fired.

The Cardinals scoring attack in 2018, under the direction of both McCoy and Leftwich, can best be described as vanilla. A whole lot of ineffective runs into the middle of the offensive line. Very few shots downfield in the passing game.

The bottom line is that Rosen needs help. Expecting the 21-year old to progress under the guidance of Leftwich, or even Wilks for that matter, may be asking too much. Hopefully, Arizona team President Michael Bidwill agrees with that sentiment.