Report: Josh Rosen Not Trying to Avoid Being Taken by Browns in 2018 NFL Draft

UCLA quarterback Josh Rosen will play for the Cleveland Browns if they select him despite some speculation he was hesitant to do so.

Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk reported Monday that Rosen is willing to play for whatever franchise drafts him. While that seems self-explanatory—nearly all selections play for the teams that draft them, happily or not—Rosen is a bit of a unique case.   

He raised eyebrows in December when he said he would rather find the right fit than be taken at the highest possible spot. 

"I think the teams know more than I do in the sense of where I'd best fit," Rosen told reporters. "I might be a bit of a unique personality, so hopefully they can pick me apart, and if a team really feels that I'm their guy, hopefully they'll go and get me."

Rosen seemingly addressed the speculation on Twitter:

The Browns have been a quarterback wasteland since returning to the NFL in 1999. They have drafted four signal-callers in the first round during that period—Tim Couch, Brady Quinn, Brandon Weeden and Johnny Manziel—and all have been labeled busts. They have also used other draft picks, splurged on veterans in free agency and done nearly everything short of moving the franchise again to find a star under center.

Nothing has worked. So, if Rosen wanted to avoid becoming the next in a long line of spectacular failures, it might make some sense.

However, this appears to be much ado about nothing. The latest round of speculation came following an interview former Bruins head coach Jim Mora gave to Peter King of The MMQB, in which he said Rosen needs to be "challenged":

"He needs to be challenged intellectually so he doesn't get bored. He's a millennial. He wants to know why. Millennials, once they know why, they're good. Josh has a lot of interests in life. If you can hold his concentration level and focus only on football for a few years, he will set the world on fire. He has so much ability, and he's a really good kid."

None of this is particularly surprising information. Rosen himself has said his personality is an acquired taste, and he's unwilling to keep quiet on issues he feels passionate about. He has spoken out against the NCAA, including in a Q&A with Bleacher Report, and he has weighed in on sociopolitical issues. 

Rosen wants a team to understand who he is and draft him to be himself. If that team is the Browns, he seems more than willing to make it work in Cleveland.