Arizona Cardinals: Breaking down recent Josh Rosen trade rumors

Rumors are swirling that Washington is the team most interested in Arizona Cardinals quarterback Josh Rosen, but that may not be the truth.

Per NFL insider Benjamin Allbright on Twitter, Washington looks to be the top Josh Rosen trade destination, if the Arizona Cardinals do in fact trade him. It’s worth noting that in the past Allbright has mentioned that “it’s time to move Cardinals selection of Kyler Murray from pencil to pen.”

Allbright also mentioned, in the thread, that Washington’s current ‘best’ offer was a second-round pick and a later middle-round pick.

What’s interesting about these rumors is it very well could be a smokescreen in two different ways. Those ways include:

• Generating a market for the No. 1 pick.
• Generating a market for a Josh Rosen trade.

Generating a market for the No. 1 pick isn’t a foreign concept to Arizona Cardinals. Many believe that the team is attempting to convince others that Kyler Murray is ‘their guy’ to lure another team (Oakland Raiders) to trade up to secure him themselves.

These talks happen in every draft. Steve Keim is trying to generate them in order to get the haul that brings depth to the roster. However, 2019 is different than other drafts because neither Kyler Murray or Dwayne Haskins are widely considered to be top pick material. Because of that, the Cardinals are attempting to generate artificial interest in Murray.

The latter of the two theories is another common practice in the NFL. Essentially, the Arizona Cardinals leak a trade package that’s bad enough for a team to beat with say a first-round pick. The end goal would not be to trade with Washington; instead, it would be to trade with another team for a bigger haul or get Washington to increase their offer.

It’s worth noting that Rosen will attend the Cardinals offseason workouts. However, this doesn’t mean he won’t be on the trade market.

Or there is the third theory that consists of Benjamin Allbright telling the truth, which, in a trade-happy modern NFL is as likely as the other two theory’s. Either way, these questions will be answered on April 25th — the night of the 2019 NFL Draft.