Anybody who ever watched Steve Smith play football knows the biggest mistake an opposing defensive back could make was engaging in a trash-talking war with the undersized receiver. Aqib Talib learned the hard way. Janoris Jenkins did too. Smith practically ended Fred Smoot’s career.
You were never going to win a war of words with Smith. Just don’t talk back. You’re better off just keeping quiet.
Josh Rosen had a chance to spark a feud with Smith after the NFL Network analyst crushed the former Cardinals quarterback for unfollowing Arizona on social media, and wisely decided to engage. And the strategy has served him well.
In Smith’s mind, Rosen was shying away from competition after the Cardinals drafted Kyler Murray with the first-overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft. Instead of fighting for his job, he was taking his ball and going home, Smith said in a fiery rant that was shared all over social media.
It’s a nonsensical rant that has aged poorly in the ensuing days. Nevermind that Smith once demanded his release (and got it) from the Panthers when GM Dave Gettleman said his spot on the roster wasn’t guaranteed…
But Rosen never said he wanted out of Arizona. Unfollowing the Cardinals’ Instagram account may have been a passive-aggressive move, but imagine you were in Rosen’s position. Is this an account you’d want to follow?
As if Smith’s naive rant didn’t look bad enough in the moment, Rosen made it look even worse when he sent out this classy message to Cardinals fans after being traded to Miami…
As for Smith’s other complaints, the ones about Rosen not wanting to compete, he put those to rest in an interview with Sports Illustrated’s Robert Klemko:
While agency staffers in the next room celebrated the selection of other clients with wine and pulls of Tito’s vodka, [Agent Ryan] Williams called Rosen from his office with an update: The Cardinals might actually keep you. “If that’s their position,” Rosen told him, “then I’ll just beat him out and Kyler can be the backup.” Williams’ reply: “They don’t want that, and they know they don’t want that. We’re getting a trade done.”
Rosen wanted to compete with Murray but his agent was correct: The Cardinals were never going to give him a fair shot. You don’t draft a quarterback first-overall to sit him on the bench. Rosen eventually accepted this fact that Smith didn’t seem to understand.
“I absolutely would have competed if they kept me, but I would’ve been kind of bummed about it because I knew I wouldn’t get a fair shake,” Rosen says. “A GM’s not going to draft a quarterback and draft another one the next year, higher, and then play the first one. It’s admitting you made two mistakes. It just wouldn’t happen. I wouldn’t hesitate to compete, but I would know pre-emptively I wouldn’t get a shot even if I won the competition.”
Any rational person would have come to the same conclusion. Rosen was ready to show up and compete for his job, but the Cardinals had other ideas. And now Rosen is a member of the Miami Dolphins, who just so happen to play Arizona in 2020. That should be fun.
