Sam Bradford mercifully benched, Cardinals to start Josh Rosen vs. Seahawks

The Arizona Cardinals inexplicably paid the oft-injured Sam Bradford $15 million guaranteed to be their starting quarterback this year, and $20 million overall. In a stunning turn of events, this has not worked out very well. Bradford has led the Cardinals to a grand total of 20 points and zero wins, and it looks like Arizona might be the worst team in the league.

Head coach Steve Wilks has confirmed that Bradford, who was benched after three consecutive second-half turnovers against the Chicago Bears, will stay on the bench for this Sunday’s home game against the Seattle Seahawks. Rookie first-round draft pick Josh Rosen, who was immediately thrust into a situation where he needed to engineer a game-winning 4th quarter drive, is going to get his first career NFL start.

Rosen went 4/7 for 36 yards and an interception in his efforts to lead the Cardinals from 16-14 down with under five minutes remaining in the game. He was picked off on 4th down on his first drive, and his Hail Mary attempt in the final seconds ended with the Bears blitzing and sacking him.

The former UCLA star has essentially been on countdown to overtake Bradford from opening day, so this was a matter of “when” and not “if” Rosen would make his full NFL debut. For all fears of the Seahawks cratering on defense, they lead the league in interceptions, and the pass rush came alive against the Dallas Cowboys to the tune of five sacks on Sunday. Rosen has a really low bar to clear to be an upgrade over Bradford, but he is still a rookie, and I would hope that the Seahawks are capable of feasting on Josh making rookie mistakes. Combine that with newly paid David Johnson averaging 3.4 yards per carry, and you have a formerly elite offense from 2015 turned into junk in 2018. Now it’s up to Rosen to right the ship for a Cardinals team that has been absolutely abysmal through three games.