Josh Rosen entered the huddle Friday for the first time as a professional football player.
“Pretty cool, isn’t it?” Rosen told his teammates, via Kent Somers of the Arizona Republic.
It wasn’t exactly Joe Montana’s John Candy moment. In fact, the Cardinals’ new quarterback was a little “jittery” as he started his first practice, according to coach Steve Wilks. But Rosen settled in and completed a 65-yarder to Christian Kirk later in practice.
“He’s not going to throw it a million miles an hour at you,” Kirk said. “You have to know when to put a touch on it, and he’s good at that.”
The Cardinals are going to let Rosen be Rosen, insisting they won’t muzzle him. The former UCLA star’s outspokenness didn’t sit well with everybody, but Arizona believes it got its franchise quarterback with the 10th overall pick.
“I don’t want to try to control him because the kind of person he is has allowed him to be the player he is,” Wilks said. “I like his leadership. As I told you from Day 1, he’s wired a little different, and I like that.”