Josh Rosen Sets Clear Career Goal: Win More Than Tom Brady
By Michael Hurley, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- There's a lot being said about Josh Rosen right now, the 21-year-old quarterback out of UCLA who's expected to be drafted as one of the top picks in this month's NFL draft. His former head coach certainly threw some gas on the fire with some comments last week, and over the years Rosen has drawn some unique criticism for either coming from a wealthy family or being egotistical or (warning, the next one is a doozy!) having too many opinions.
To help reshape his public image, Rosen sat down for a Q&A with ESPN The Magazine's Sam Alipour to try to explain himself, express some regret for past choices, and share what he hopes to accomplish in his career and his life. And it was in the discussion about his career that Rosen shared a very lofty goal: he wants to win more than Tom Brady.
"I want to be great -- in everything I do," Rosen told ESPN. "As far as football, I always looked up to Kellen Moore of Boise State. I thought it was the coolest thing that he was the winningest QB of all time. I thought that was a cool word: winningest. So I want to be the winningest QB in NFL history. I want to win the most games and most championships. I'd say six titles, but if Tom Brady gets six, I'll say seven."
It's not often that you see Kellen Moore comparing favorably to Tom Brady, but there you go. The two quarterbacks do make for an interesting comparison, though. Moore won 50 games as a quarterback in college, but went undrafted. He's cobbled together a five-year NFL career, largely as a backup, and he's been trusted to start just two games in that time. He's thrown four touchdowns and six interceptions.
Meanwhile Brady alternated time in college as a starter and as a backup to Drew Henson before ultimately winning the job outright and leading Michigan to an Orange Bowl victory. But he wasn't drafted until pick No. 199 in the year 2000, as has been reported once or twice since that day. He's also gone on to become the greatest quarterback of all time, setting records in games won (223) and Super Bowls won (5) for a quarterback.
They're records that likely won't be touched for many, many years. But they're records that Rosen is nevertheless aiming for.
Good for him. Hopefully, for his sake, he doesn't end up on the Jets. The task itself of winning so many games and Super Bowls is hard enough as it is without the added difficulty of trying to win for the Jets.