Rosen. He's shown enough that he's not clearly outplayed by Fitz. The whole purpose of this season from a QB standpoint is to see if Rosen is a franchise QB. Based on what I've seen he's not, but the best way to tell is to let him start as many games. Start him game 1.

 

Rosen. He may be equal or a little behind to Fitz, but he has more upside in how he handles the pocket and extends plays. So let's get a full evaluation this season and know for sure going into 2020 what he's made of.

 

Rosen all the way. I will boycott all games until he is named the starter. I don't want to see Fitzpatrick take another snap in a Dolphins uniform.

 

Flores is doing the right thing with this particular player, he’s listening to the player..

 

Until he shows me otherwise, I will trust Flores to make the right decision and I will root for the team to win whoever is the signal caller. That's what real fans are supposed to do.

 

Rosen all day!

 

Real fans don't want to see a 37 year old journeyman quarterback embarrass this team for a quarter of the season when you have a young prospect ready to go.

 

I'll trust Flores to make the call. If you're embarrassed then boycott is the right call for you.

 

I'd sit Rosen all year and develop him more a la Aaron Rodgers. No reason to risk destroying a good young QB at the age of 22 behind that line. Those rookies especially need to settle in more.

However, the rules protecting QB's now make it an easy decision to just go ahead and start Rosen.

 

Rosen for sure. As he has outplayed. And Fins hope that he can be the franchise QB of the future. Starting right now.

 

There’s a saying from English Soccer “If he’s good enough he’s old enough”. Wayne Rooney famously started in Everton’s first team in the Premier League when he was 17.

 

Honestly. Who cares? This year is garbage and neither QB is going to prevent us from drafting a new, shinier one in 2020's round one. Does anyone seriously think Rosen is going to play so well that we draft a different position with our first

 

The O-line is trash. I would start Fitzpatrick for at least the first game or two so the line can get it's feet wet. Give them a couple of games to get things together.

Also, I think it's very possible that Rosen just isn't quite up to speed. Fitzpatrick is not going to win us any games but if Rosen spends the first couple weeks getting bull-dozed then the whole experiment might be over before it begins.

Fitzpatrick isn't going to play any more than he needs to. The coaches are around Josh Rosen everyday. They probably have a good feel for him right now anyway. After 10-12 games they'll be experts on Rosen.

You can't freak out if Fitzpatrick starts a game or two early on. If he's starting game number 4 and 5 then I'll change my tune.

 

Rosen. He's young and he's "the future". May as well put him out there since not much is expected this year. The more reps he gets, the better.

 

This^^^.........

 

I think if you even are debating in your mind, that is indicative that it is close enough, and Rosen is the starter. In all honesty, I would say Rosen looked better in every game. That dude has thrown some dimes.

 

I think it has to be Rosen...unless you are planning to bring him in by week 4 regardless.

Anything beyond that and either:

A: You don't trust he is the guy.

B: You arent evaluating him properly or giving him enough time.

C: All of the above.

 

I think Rosen is the better QB but that Ravens defence is likely to going to kill whichever one starts week #1 so I'd be tempted to sacrifice Fitz for that game.

 

Should have made this a poll question. Without a doubt Fitzpatrick starts the season.

 

Just FYI, Baltimore's defense lost a lot of parts in the offseason. They still have some good players, but they aren't exactly the same group that they have been in the past.

 

Yeah, but should he is the question?

 

Josh Rosen is not going to benefit from this O-line. We all agree on that. The lack of blocking is going to hurt him and it's only a question of how much it'll set him back. Will the porous O-line make playing QB for Miami hard? Will it be impossible? Surely it will suck. Surely it will be the kind of O-line that makes picking up 1st downs and sustaining drives difficult. Will it be enough to ruin a young QB who already has problems seeing the field? Maybe. Maybe not.

I usually don't buy into the idea of situations and circumstances "ruining" players but if you want to give Rosen his best chance you probably need to let him get as prepared as possible learning the playbook and let Fitzpatrick take the initial September beating.

Rosen is going to spend the entire year learning the playbook and making mistakes. His true test will come next year when Miami brings in a rookie with whom Rosen has to compete. Will Rosen come in prepared at that point? Will he look like a 3rd year player who's already spent a year in the system? Or will he look like a guy who's grown very little and who's making the same mistakes?

To me, that's going to be the test.

I am not living with the delusion that Rosen is going to break out this year and play so well Miami passes up better prospects. Rosen has bounced between teams, going in and out of several different offenses over the last few years. None of that leads to a guy playing particularly well.

 

Bah, we're playoff bound baby! Of course, I do say that every year...

In all seriousness though, I think this is a 4-6 win team with either QB. It will be the defense that earns those W's while the offense figures things out.

 

Rosen, absolutely. As countless others have said, we need to evaluate him in his entirety this year; anything else is simply a waste of time. From opening day jitters to mid-season slumps, from heavy pressure in the pocket to late 4th quarter comebacks -- we need to see it all. We absolutely have to form a complete opinion on Rosen's potential as a franchise quarterback, and the best way to do that is to acquire as many data points as possible (i.e. a full 16-game season). The Miami Dolphins need to be certain of their plan moving forward -- a large part of which hinges on the 2020 quarterback class.

I understand Flores' reasoning. He wants to instill a competitive mindset -- one in which any job is up for grabs at any moment. That seems to be the foundation from which he wants to build a franchise, and that foundation will crumble if he isn't consistent with it. It's smart for him to play it this way, but in the end, football is about the quarterback position and winning championships. Anything other than Rosen on opening day is irresponsible.

Let's play a game: On paper, we're looking at a floor of about 5 wins, and a ceiling of about 9, provided an extreme circumstance doesn't happen in either's favor. Let's imagine that Miami wraps up the 2019-20 season with a middle-of-the-road 7-9 record; I would hedge a bet on Miami going after a rookie QB in 2020 looking at that number alone. However, if Rosen looked promising in the wake of pressure, came away with an improved QB rating, improved throughout the season, and developed a rapport among the players as a leader, then the front office may need to evaluate differently. If Fitzpatrick starts for the majority of the season, we don't get to play that game.

Draft picks are valuable. Fully evaluate Rosen; you might be lucky enough to have the luxury of passing on a 2020 QB in favor of an elite EDGE defender, or a blue-chip offensive lineman. Let's get it right this time. Start the Chosen One.

 

I wondered why the Dolphins signed Fitpatrick when the expectation was positioning to draft a QB next year? He's a streaky journeyman QB that'll pull a few wins, which hurts those chances. My belief is they wanted a solid veteran QB presence to hold together the locker room & shield their rookie head coach.

Who should start? It seems Fitz has had a better camp, so he should start. Don't worry, he will have an inevitable 4 INT game and will get benched. I just dont agree with the argument that Rosen should get starts because he's young with supposed upside? The Dolphins don't owe Rosen anything. He already started like 13 games last year, which is almost a full season starting under his belt. There's plenty of tape on him to verify what they see every day in practice. He's a young backup the fins picked up cheap, who needs to compete to earn his spot & show he can lead a group of men through a bad season. I think that's why coach already publicly criticized his body language.

I'm a die hard fins fan but this season is about stockpiling assets for next year while not nationally embarrasing the franchise.

 

Even though Rosen played against a lower talent level and the defensive schemes were fairly vanilla, I would give him the nod here. If Fitzpatrick were kicking *** and taking names, then it would be a different story, but even with his experience and smarts, his age is beginning to show, he's making one wobbly pass after another, and his offense doesn't look all that good. Not saying Rosen was tearing it up, but when Rosen has had time to throw, his passes looked crisp. The defenses will probably put Rosen in some uncomfortable situations, but I am hoping we will have him prepared enough for him to manage it. It might mean throwing the ball out of bounds to avoid a sack, but that is better than getting bludgeoned and having the ball stripped away. If Fitzpatrick does get the start I am not going to be mad about it. I believe Rosen will get his turn sooner than later.

 

Rosen.

We might as well see what we have in the kid since we traded for him. Got to find out if he's what we've been looking for. Id draft a QB this year either way, but the time is now to see what he has. Everyone already knows what Fitzpatrick is, and isnt.

 

Agree.

It's funny how the same people crapped on Tannehill for not managing a non existing pocket but dont want to put Rosen in the same situation.

Not trying to make this about Tannehill, he wasnt the guy, just pointing out the hypocrisy. Either a QB doesnt need great protection or he does. It cant be both ways.

 

I agree- but Tannehill was very good at everything BUT dealing with pressure. I mentioned last year that RT's mouth was wide open on a few of those hits and he'd actually close his eyes bracing for impact....which led to strip sacks and severe punishment. Super tough dude and I wish him the best, but Tannehill can't succeed without a solid starting front 6.

Rosen, on the other hand, has faced just as much pressure this season and he's smiling in the moment as he runs for his life. I think Tannehill is easily the better quarterback but Rosen is very good under pressure and it doesn't seem to phase his decision process. He will throw some bad passes but he does that with/without pressure, so I think it's two different situations.

You're 100% right- maybe RT would be a completely different QB today if he had spent 2-3 seasons on the bench growing into a pocket passer. But I'm not sure that helps Rosen since he's already been thru the school of hard knocks last season. Where Tannehill regressed in his pocket skills, I almost think it's made Rosen better.

 

No.. Tannehill had more deficiencies than just the inability to deal with pocket pressure. He never demonstrated he knew how to run a 2-minute or 4-minute offense for example. Constant time wasting in those situations and not taking leadership to make sure everyone knew what to do in those crucial situations. Also, despite his long ball issues being primarily with Wallace, that's a deficiency too. Roethlisberger never had timing issues with Wallace. Somehow Tannehill could never figure Wallace out.

More generally, the guy wasn't a leader. Pressure or not you couldn't trust a Tannehill-led offense to march down the field. His stats without pressure would look good (but that's true of most QB's) but it wasn't necessarily due to long drives. Those were stats scattered across different drives. In other words, 3rd and long was in general problematic for him.

I'd summarize Tannehill as a QB that just couldn't perform when needed. He had the physical tools but didn't have a good football mind.

 

One lesson I have learned from our Tannehill experiment is the value of evaluating a QBs ability to handle things when the defense makes them uncomfortable. This year, when the games start to count, we should watch Rosen and see how he handles it. If he can't manage it, we probably need to move on as it’s a skill not easily replicated in practice or easily taught.

 

Like I said it's not so much whether Tannehill could have been better or what issues he had. I just think the double standard is a bit perplexing.

 

There is no reason at all to start a late-30s veteran on this team this season. Start Rosen and see if he's any good. If he's not, we know we need to draft a QB.

 

I personally never want to see the Fins run an offense that has a QB who doesn't need very good protection. It just leads to a chaotic, schoolyard mess in that case.

Build up the OL, and protect the guy. Be it Rosen, or someone else down the road. But make protecting him a main priority!

 

Here's how I see it- he's around .500 overall and he lost far too many for us on bone-headed strip sacks, safeties, strip sacks in the end-zone for a TD, etc. If that stuff wasn't there, he's probably be a consistent 10+ win QB. So while I'm not disagreeing with you, almost all of his failures came down to handling pressure one way or another.

Not that it matters- he's gone and we're better off for it. Hopefully we get to have a 7-year argument over Rosen or another new QB soon! =)

 

Excellent analysis by PFF on Rosen vs Fitz with an insightful look at significant stats. Summary? It should be Rosen.

Examining whether Josh Rosen or Ryan Fitzpatrick should emerge from Dolphins' QB battle
https://www.pff.com/news/pro-examin...patrick-should-emerge-from-dolphins-qb-battle