I saw that newly acquired quarterback Josh Rosen was seen wearing the No. 19 jersey for his new Cleveland Browns football team. That has drawn a few raised eyebrows from fans, including mine. Once upon a time in “The Land”, a one Bernie Kosar wore that number as the Browns quarterback starting in 1985. He was a young kid from Youngstown, Ohio and he wanted to play for his childhood favorite team in the Browns.
He became a legend in these parts of Northeastern Ohio and for us “old school” fans the No. 19 is always about Bernie Kosar. He brought AFC Championship games to Cleveland and almost got his team to the Super Bowl. He is one of us and fans love him to this day.
But the No. 19 isn’t retired by the team and several other players have worn this iconic number over the last several years. Most notably former wide receiver Corey Coleman wore it as did former kick returner JoJo Natson.
But it’s the fact that another quarterback has decided to wear the number that has some questioning the decision by the player. Rosen has been a traveling quarterback since he was originally drafted by the Arizona Cardinals in 2018. Back then he was a first-round pick and much was expected by the Cardinals. Rosen didn’t comply and he failed miserably, going 3-13 and playing awful. From there he’s been on the march as no teams have found him to be very useful to their team’s success.
Now the Browns have given him one more opportunity and if he wants to stay in the league he needs to perform well because he could very well not make the final 53-man roster. It’ll be the biggest tryout of his life.
The other issue for Rosen and why he is in this spot trying to save his career is because he has been an overly arrogant individual talking about his own football skill set. Back in 2018 when he was drafted he argued with the media that thought he wasn’t the best in the draft. The Browns took Baker Mayfield with that first draft pick, not Rosen. But Rosen also bickered with media and made it known he wouldn’t want to be drafted by the Browns.
Oh, how the world turns! The irony that Rosen is in Berea at training camp in 2022 is too funny. Part of me believes that Rosen is wearing the No. 19 because he’s still so arrogant that it’s a bit of a snub at the fanbase and Kosar himself. It’s as if he wants to show up everyone. I don’t believe the No. 19 should be retired, but I also don’t believe Rosen should have gone out of his way to wear that number.
Now I did take a look at all the current jersey numbers being used and Rosen was limited but he did still have choices. By my observations, he could have taken jersey numbers 1, 6 and 14. So not taking former quarterback Baker Mayfield’s No. 6 jersey would have left 1 or 14.
So, let’s see how Rosen does in training camp. While I’m not overly excited about the acquisition he was considered an excellent quarterback back in 2018. Can he regain that magic? Maybe in an odd way that No. 19 jersey will give him that magic touch. It did once before for a young kid named Bernie Kosar.
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