In what was speculated as whether or not he will stay or go, junior UCLA Bruins quarterback Josh Rosen declared for the 2018 NFL Draft Wednesday evening.
The top projected overall pick in the draft—and most likely to be selected by the winless Cleveland Browns—Rosen, a 20-year-old 6’4, 218-pound native of Manhattan Beach, CA, threw for 3,756 yards, 26 touchdowns and ten interceptions in 11 games for UCLA while completing 62.5 percent of his passes.
One of the most highly-touted recruits to come out of high school, Rosen burst on the national scene as a true freshman in passing for 3,670 yards, 23 touchdowns and 11 interceptions.
During his time in Westwood, Rosen earned national and all-conference honors such as second-team All Pac-12, Freshman All-American and Pac-12 Freshman Offensive Player of the Year. For his career, Rosen passed for 9,341 yards, 59 touchdowns and 26 interceptions.
In what would be his final collegiate game, Rosen completed 13-of-18 for 202 yards and two touchdowns in a 30-27 win over Cal. Rosen would sit out UCLA’s Cactus Bowl game vs. Kansas State.
In perhaps one of the most anticipated games of the college football season, Rosen passed for 421 yards and three touchdowns in a 28-23 loss against USC and fellow top pick Sam Darnold—who also declared Wednesday night, and is the projected No.2 pick in the 2018 NFL Draft.
Once thought want to stay in college instead of being drafted by Cleveland, some other potential landing spots for Rosen are the aforementioned Browns and Giants, New York Jets and the Denver Broncos.
If selected by Cleveland, Rosen will be the fifth quarterback selected by the Browns in the first round (Tim Couch, Brady Quinn, Brandon Weeden, Johnny Manziel) since returning to the NFL in 1999 and the second QB to be taken No.1 by them, joining Couch.
Hopefully, Rosen will not join the other 29 quarterbacks who have failed, and will succeed in reviving a once-proud franchise in Cleveland.