UCLA’s Josh Rosen doesn’t want to be a Cleveland Brown

On Sunday, ESPN‘s Adam Schefter reported that UCLA quarterback, Josh Rosen, would consider staying in school another year if the Cleveland Browns were to draft him next April/May.

And who could honestly blame him?

They have gone through more quarterbacks since they went back to Cleveland in 1999, than every franchise has in the league.

From Tim Couch, to Ken Dorsey, Charlie Frye, Brian Hoyer, Thad Lewis, Kelly Holcomb, Spergon Wynn, Johnny Manziel, Colt McCoy, Cody Kesler, Brandon Weeden, Kevin Hogan, and more recently, Deshone Kizer, the Cleveland Browns are a mess- BIG TIME!

And it’s not just at the QB position itself either, it’s the whole franchise.

Since 2012, the Cleveland Browns 1st round failures have included:

• 2012- RB, Trent Richardson
• 2012- QB, Brandon Weeden
• 2013- DE Barkevious Mingo
• 2014- CB Justin Gilbert
• 2014- QB Johnny Manziel
• 2015- DT Danny Shelton
• 2016- WR Corey Coleman
• 2017- DE Myles Garrett

During that span, the Browns missed out on all of the following Pro Bowlers, which could have significantly changed the fortune of the franchise:

• 2012- OT Matt Kahlil one pick after Richardson
• 2012- LB Dont’a Hightower, G David DeCastro, and Safety Harrison Smith (all went between picks 24-29, Weeden went 22)
• 2013- most the draft was terrible
• 2014- WRs Mike Evans, Sammy Watkins, or Odell Beckham Jr., LB Anthony Barr and Khalil Mack instead of Gilbert
• 2014- QBs Teddy Bridgewater, Derek Carr, and Jimmy Garoppolo instead of Manziel
• 2015- RB Melvin Gordon and CB Marcus Peters (Both went within six picks after Shelton)
• 2016- Browns traded back twice and missed out on QB Carson Wentz, RB Ezekiel Elliott, DE Joey Bosa, CB Jalen Ramsey, and DE Deforest Buckner

Looking at this impressive body of work, it makes absolute perfect sense for a potential top 5 draft pick, to come out and basically say, he’s hesitant to enter the NFL if the Browns were to select him (Cleveland currently has 2 of the top 5 picks).

For all the high picks the Browns constantly have, they seem to screw it up somehow, so a soon to be 21-year old passer looking for a long sustained career in the NFL, would look upon Cleveland with some apprehension.

Does it set a precedent for future NFL picks to not want to play for a certain team for person or professional reasons? Sure it does, but it remains few and far between.

While some may look at the Browns as a challenge to build up a sorry franchise, others might favor a more established franchise with a solid veteran quarterback in place, allowing the draftee to soak in all the NFL had to offer before taking over.

Rosen has apparently chosen the latter by leaking out his intentions already. The Browns have already locked in the top spot for the Draft, and everybody knows they want/need a QB. They traded for A.J. McCarron from the Bengals, but in typical Browns fashion, they failed to notify the league of the deal by the deadline.

Knowing all this, can you really blame Josh Rosen for not wanting to come to Cleveland?