Dolphins Coach Discusses Rosen Release

Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores said he had no regrets about trading for Josh Rosen last year but felt it was time to move on from the third-year quarterback

Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores had nothing but positive things to say about Josh Rosen on Saturday morning when he talked about the decision to release the third-year quarterback.

The move with Rosen leaves the Dolphins with two quarterbacks on the roster, veteran Ryan Fitzpatrick and rookie first-round pick Tua Tagovailoa.

“Every decision is tough, letting go a player," Flores said. "Josh, he worked. He competed. He did everything we asked. But at the end of the day we just felt like moving on was the best thing for the Miami Dolphins.

"Look, it’s a hard-working kid. He competed. Last year was a difficult year for him, being up, coming down. He fought through it. He came back. He competed this training camp. Look, I don’t have any bad things to say about him. This didn’t work out and we felt like it was best for us to move on. I wish him the best. He’s immensely talented, but we just felt like this was the best move for the Dolphins."

The decision to move on from Rosen came some 17 months after the Dolphins traded second- and fifth-round picks to the Arizona Cardinals to get him.

The Cardinals moved on from Rosen, the 10th overall selection in the 2018 draft, after his rough rookie season. That offseason they hired Kliff Kingsbury as head coach and drafted quarterback Kyler Murray as the first overall pick in the 2019 draft.

For the Dolphins, taking the two picks represented a shot of landing that elusive franchise quarterback, a move that clearly didn't work out.

"The most important thing is to kind of move forward and not look back," Flores said. "And worry about today. And worry about this season. And not worry about what happened last year. You don't hit on every player. On every trade. On every draft pick. Show me a team that's hit on every one. And I'll applaud that team. I'm not saying there is any regrets. In the moment we felt that was the best move for the Dolphins. So it didn't work out. We've moved on from Josh. And we'll leave it at that."

The decision to release Rosen certainly could be seen as an indication the Dolphins feel good about where Tagovailoa is from a health and preparation standpoint.

"Tua had a good camp, Fitz had a good camp, Josh had a good camp; all these guys were competitive," Flores said. "There are a lot of things that go into making the decision. Obviously from a health standpoint we feel good about where Tua is. At the same time, you know, we're not saying that Tua is No. 2, we're not saying he's No. 1. We're going through it. We're still making evaluations. We're still looking at every possible scenario. We've got a bunch of guys who are going to be released this evening. But, yes, at the end of the day we feel good about where Tua is. And same as Fitz, and we're going to move forward with those two guys. And we could potentially add another quarterback or someone at another position as well."

The Dolphins brought a few players for workouts Friday, and one of them was former Miami practice squad quarterback Jake Rudock.

"Look, you can never have enough quarterbacks," Flores said. "I could see us having one on the practice squad. But I think it's too early to say, 'Hey, we're going to do this, that or something else.' We don't have to. There are going to be a lot more players on the wire tonight. We'll take a look at all of them. We'll see where we are from there."