Josh Rosen vs. Ryan Fitzpatrick Is Actually a Pretty Interesting QB Competition

The NFL Draft has come and gone, and I’d say arguably the story of most intrigue over the whole weekend was Josh Rosen getting traded to the Dolphins. Miami signed Ryan Fitzpatrick earlier this offseason and you can’t say declaratively right now who will start Week 1 versus the Ravens.

New Dolphins head coach Brian Flores said exactly what you think he’d say: he has to compete for the job. Basically last year in Tampa was the quintessential Fitzpatrick roller coaster experience, but the ups were loftier than anything Rosen did in his rookie year.

Here’s how their stats lined up:

Rosen: 55.2% completion, 11 TDs, 14 INTs, 5.8 yards per attempt.
Fitzpatrick: 66.7% completion, 17 TDs, 12 INTs, 9.6 yards per attempt

There are a lot of things you can point to in the way of mitigating factors with Rosen — Steve Wilks was a one and done head coach, the team’s OL was dreadful, etc. — but the bottom line is that Rosen was supposed to be the most pro ready of the rookie class over Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnold, and Josh Allen and wound up having the worst season out of the four.

Nevertheless, Rosen has higher upside and a longer tail of future potential than Fitzpatrick. It’s possible the Dolphins got their quarterback of the future on the refurbishment discount and he turns out great. Therefore, this race should start with Rosen as the favorite, and so if Fitzpatrick winds up beating him out in camp and the preseason that’s a bad sign.