(JTA) — Josh Rosen, the Jewish quarterback traded to the Miami Dolphins this offseason, will have to wait a little longer to get his chance in the Florida sun.
Rosen, the UCLA star who was drafted in the first round by the Arizona Cardinals in 2018, could not earn the starting job for the first game of the National Football League season on Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens. Ryan Fitzpatrick, a journeyman brought in from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, will direct the offense.
The news is no doubt disappointing plenty of South Florida Jewish fans, who expected they had their heir apparent to Jay Fiedler, the Dolphins’ starter for the better part of five seasons from 2000 to 2004. Fieldler, a Dartmouth graduate, was inducted into the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 2002.
The Dolphins, who have a new head coach in former New England Patriots assistant Brian Flores, had sent second- and fifth-round draft picks to Arizona to bring in Rosen.
Rosen promises no “ayin haras” — evil eyes — for Fitzpatrick.
“I’ll push him every single day for him to get better, and if he doesn’t get better, I’ll hopefully surpass him at some point,” he said via CBS Sports. “We’re teammates. We’re both Dolphins, and I’m rooting for him as hard as anyone because I think – as I said before – a rising tide raises all ships.”
Keep the faith, Jewish fans: Rosen didn’t get his first start for the Cardinals until the fourth game last season.
